The Dance
by The First Gokun
Summary: An alternate twist to the days before the Beacon dance. Can Jaune find a way to spread a little more love and get his feelings across? Not ArKos. Some Cardin redemption. Rated T for language and whatnot. Somewhat OOC.
1. Chapter 1

**My first attempt at writing fanfiction**

**I do not own RWBY**

**Based on the events that took place just before the Beacon Dance. I'm not much a fan of ArKos, so maybe if Jaune took action things wouldn't have turned out that way...**

* * *

Standing in front of a full length mirror, he squared his shoulders and sucked in his belly. After holding for a mere 12 seconds he gave up on his physique, which he decided wasn't in too bad a shape anyway, and turned his attention to the mess of blonde hair, running his fingers through and trying his best to make something out of the swirling golden chaos. He locked blue eyes with his reflection and laughed shakily; what was he trying to accomplish here?

Jaune was anxious. Thought he didn't like to show it, parading around a confident facade as his father had so wisely informed him to, the upcoming dance made him nervous to the point where if he thought about it his knees would vibrate and spasm violently. His previous plans to garner Weiss' attention had ended in cold rejection, and what with the singing, dancing, musical instrumentation, dressing in costume, public confessions and lame pickup lines he was running out of options.

He sighed deeply. There really was no one to help him out with his romance crusade.

Hearing the sound of the dormitory door swinging open he turned abruptly to spot his verdant clad teammate entering the room. The realization struck him that while he may be beyond saving, he did know a friend who was currently in a successful relationship.

* * *

"Hey Ren, how's it going with the dance prep?"

The sleep loving male turned to peer at Jaune through his overhanging black shag. He gave him a miniature smile, no more, and replied "I haven't really been thinking about it that much. And you?"

Jaune faux winced at the question, clutching his heart in mock agony. "Ask not such questions, it pains me so. I have returned from the battlefield of love empty handed, licking my wounds."

"No luck with Weiss?" Ren chuckled.

"Pretty much." Jaune stretched and groaned, observing his friend out of the corner of his eye. "You're so lucky to already be in a meaningful relationship. No worries about who to ask to parties and stuff." There was a hint of playful jealousy in his voice.

The soft spoken boy's hair seemed to stand on end for a second, but he took it in stride and smoothly returned the jab. "I have no clue what you're talking about... besides, why not ask Pyrrha to go with you? I'm sure she would be okay with it."

_Perhaps more than just okay_, Ren thought to himself.

But Jaune sheepishly brushed aside the offer, donning a diplomatic grin. "C'mon now, Ren, you know she's got better options than me. I can't just cramp her romantic style for my own pity party."

At this the soft spoken boy's fuchsia eyes widened. "Haven't you heard?" he remarked, "There is not a single student in Beacon who feels like asking Pyrrha out."

Jaune's jaw dropped. "What? No way. But she's so… Pyrrha!"

"Well, I think that's the problem: her fame makes her intimidating. I mean, would you ask her out?"

"Of course not! She deserves way better than a sorry guy like me!"

"Exactly, thats what everyone thinks. She's so high up on a pedestal it makes her unattainable, and because of that nobody wants to ask her to the dance. Besides, any boy who goes with her is guaranteed to be overshadowed by her fame. It's just one of the many problems she deals with, being so well known."

The blonde nodded pensively. Everything Ren said made sense, but it just didn't sit right with Jaune. How could an athletic, redheaded beauty like Pyrrha be dateless for the night of the dance?

Suddenly, Jaune got a mischievous glint in his eye. He knew what he could do to solve his teammate's internal struggle.

"Thanks for the info Ren," he called as he dashed out of the room, before turning and asking "Oh Ren? Where is Pyrrha right now?"

Ren suppressed his laughter as he pointed him towards the training arenas, watching Jaune make a mad dash down the hall. _He must be really excited to have himself a date for the dance._

* * *

Being rather lithe, Jaune was a good runner. Without a semblance or weapon propulsion system, no one could match his endurance, and his drive on this day was particularly strong. How could he have been so blind to Pyrrha's feelings for so long? He turned and slid, making a sharp turn at the corner to the battlegrounds…

… And turned in the opposite direction.

If he was correct, there would still be many students in the lunchroom, straggling after breakfast. He would have to be quick with this plan if he wanted to finish before classes started and he was stuck next to Pyrrha for the whole day.

He searched around for a possible catalyst to ease his workload. Ren had Nora, Sun had Blake, and Neptune… well he didn't really like the guy. There really was no available bro to aid his schemes. Then he spotted a certain tall, well muscled hunter in armor, topped off with a flair of chestnut.

* * *

Cardin was pissed.

While his racist escapades had calmed down since the Forever Fall incident, the group was still very anti-faunus (just less vocal about it), choosing to ignore the furry humanoids rather than search for and antagonize them. The change in tone made team CRDL less of an active threat, but caused them to bolster their defences against outsiders and made them appear cagey and grumpy. Having a reputation for bullying earned them the cold shoulder from their classmates and while they had learned to stand on their own academically their barely average combat skills had left them in the shadows of their ridiculously overpowered peers.

The day had turned very suddenly from good to dangerous in the span of five minutes. Team CRDL had figured out just how quick Nora's trigger finger was after lazily mocking Jaune's training regimen and remarking on how he must be a masochist to put up with Pyrrha's training. A quick chase scene later, Dove and Russel were promptly beaten to a pulp and Lark's nose was broken in two places. Cardin's armor had taken most of the thrashing, but his legs had come within an arms length of being shattered like toothpicks (Magnihild had landed directly in between his thighs, dangerously close to abruptly ending the Winchester family line). It was at times like these that the boys were thankful for the near sorcerous powers of the school nurse.

When Jaune first called to him he didn't hear, too immersed in his pain and grumbling to give a damn. It was only when the nearby tables' whispering died down that he noticed the blonde walking over, smiling and waving, seemingly without a care in the world. No doubt the other students were expecting a heated confrontation, turning to see how the larger boy would handle this challenge.

Cardin slumped into his chair, too exhausted to stand and look Jaune in the eye.

The student body exploded into cacophony. 'Was that admitting defeat?' 'Jaune must have some dirt on Cardin, why else would he back down?' 'He's scared. The worst bully in Beacon is scared of Arc.'

"Mind if I sit here?" Jaune asked innocently.

"Sure, whatever." Cardin mumbled a reply.

The wheels of the rumor mill grinded away, filling the cafeteria with deafening gossip.

Ignoring the peanut gallery, Jaune began his assault. "How's it going, Cardin?"

"Its going pretty crap, actually. Could I ask you to control your bubbly teammate?" Through his straining politeness seethed pure unfiltered rage.

Jaune glossed over the former bully's anger and continued. "You know Nora, she's like a stray cannonball. Did she do that to your armor?"

"Yes, that she did."

Jaune forced a laugh. Cardin barked a sharp "HAH".

"..."

"..."

"Well, speaking of crazy women," Jaune transitioned smoothly, "who might you be taking to the Beacon Dance?"

Cardin chuckled genuinely. "Me? With a girl? On a romantic evening under the stars, dancing our youth away? You know me better than that. My reputation as a bully is known far and wide in this school."

"Who knows, some girls are into that kind of thing."

"And you know this how…"

"Well, there's this one anime I watched…"

"Exactly," Cardin sighed. "No girl in real life would ever willingly speak with me, much less go the dance with me."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Jaune teased. "What if I told you there was a PERFECT girl with no date to the dance and no chance of a guy asking her out and too much pride to ask a guy out and did I mention she's beautiful and pretty and… ?"

"For the love of Monty, stop playing with me. That kind of girl doesn't exist."

"Believe me, she does, and she is just _waiting_ for you to swing by and ask her out."

"And why would you come to me with this information?" Cardin narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Because this poor girl is a good friend of mine, and I thought it absolutely preposterous that she go to the dance dateless. Out of all the well established characters I know, you are surprisingly the most desirable option, that is to say you're single and I can tolerate you. Besides, we're friends aren't we?" Jaune puffed out his chest and beamed in a Port-ish way, radiating good feelings.

"..."

One more push.

"Did I mention she is kind enough to accept anyone, no matter what they've done?" Jaune wiggled his eyebrows the way a matador flaps his cape, urging on the Winchester.

"_Stop screwing with me_!" Cardin shouted as he slammed his hands on the table, sending cutlery flying. "Dammit, just tell me straight what you want."

Jaune leaned in close, drawing himself up to the rage-fueled Cardin and narrowing his eyes. He could pull this off for Pyrrha.

"Go ask out Pyrrha," he whispered so that only Cardin could hear. The bulky teen fell back into his seat, eyes wide. Staring into the distance, thoughts of the gladiator girl going out with a wreck like him rushed through his head, thumping in time to his quickening heartbeat.

"Are… are you serious?"

"Why would I lie about something like this?"

"You could be looking for me to embarrass myself for all the shit I put you through."

"I'm not you. I can't lie so straight and I don't even think about revenge."

Cardin nodded slowly, rolling the spare pieces around in his brain. "Valid points."

"Why not just try?" Jaune reasoned through his huge grin. "I'm going to be spreading the word, so you should give it a shot before a more courteous gentleman accepts the offer and gets the honor of escorting a certain warrior to the dance."

"Gimme a bit… a bit to think on this…"

"Don't let such a great chance slip by, Cardin."

With that, Jaune stood up, hiding his somewhat weak knees and swaggering out of the cafeteria to solicit some more male side characters. The stunned team CRDL leader stared at his hands, wondering what it would be like to wrap them around the dress waist of a girl, any girl. Did he really have a chance?

The crowd naturally assumed that Jaune had confessed to Cardin. 'Who would've thought he swung that way?' 'Didn't they hate each other?' 'ALL OF MY SHIPS :D'

This news reached team JNPR in mere hours, spreading like wildfire across Beacon. An immediate team meeting was called, during which Jaune's sexuality stood trial.

* * *

Cardin walked the halls of Beacon, lost in thought. This was certainly a rare sight to see, as Cardin hadn't reflected on himself so hard since the Forever Fall incident. His thinking face was certainly frightening to bold, as if a pensive expression pulled muscles he didn't know he had.

"Surely he can't be serious. He must have been pulling my leg. Impossible. No way."

"..."

"Would she really say yes?"

"Hey Cardin."

He jumped in surprise, throwing his arms in the air and accidentally smacking Russel across the face. The green-haired boy fell to the floor and cradled his bruise.

"Whoa man, calm down!"

"Ah! Sorry! Uh... my bad!" Cardin stuttered, his heart going a mile a minute. Did he hear Cardin rambling? He tentatively reached for his mace, prepared to silence a rambling teammate.

"Jeez Cardin, that really smarts..." Russel lay his hand tenderly on his cheek, then winced and took a sharp breath. "What were you doing here anyway? We've been looking all over for you."

"Nothing much..." the larger boy muttered. "Just thinking something over, that's all..."

Russel slapped his hands to his face in mock surprise before realizing his mistake and falling over in pain once more.

"What's so weird about that?"

"Cardin, how often do you seriously think about anything? Be honest."

"All the time!" He began counting on his fingers to prove his point. "I've been thinking about the test I should be studying for and thinking about what I had for lunch and thinking about the dance and thinking about not getting my legs broken and thi-"

"Holditholditholdit baaaack up a bit. What was that about the dance?"

Cardin blushed like a schoolgirl, then went for his mace. _Sorry Russel, but we have to part ways now. You know too much,_ he thought.

At that moment, Pyrrha turned the corner, on her way back to the classrooms after a quick practice session. Time slowed down for Cardin as his female-deprived mind saw her striding in slow motion through a field of blooming flowers, a single petal dancing through her hair as the wind-

"Cardin?"

He shook his head and snapped out of the rose tinted daydream. There was no Pyrrha in front of him, only his teeny teammate.

"Three times now. That's three times you interrupt my train of thought." Cardin shook with rage, a bit of his aura leaking from beneath his chestplate like steam from a kettle. He turned slowly, his face a furious mask. Now that Pyrrha was gone, no one would keep him from his revenge.

"Hey Russel!"

Jaune trotted down the hallway, picking up the pace now that classes were about to start. "Yoohoo~" he called as he waved for Russel's attention.

The green haired boy scowled. "What do you want, Arc?"

"Lemme just talk to you real quick for a second." Arc grabbed his spiny shoulder plate and dragged him off into a side corridor, leaving Cardin to continue fuming. _So this is what he meant by spreading the word, huh?_

He replaced his mace on his back and checked the time on his scroll. He should be getting to class soon if he wanted to turn his image around.

* * *

**Hey, that seems like a good enough place to stop.**

**Maybe I'll continue this, just enough to ensure Jaune can help Pyrrha gain a little more confidence in herself without being her date. Or maybe he will. Who knows?**

**By the way, does anyone know how Ren talks? Someone commented that I made him too OOC, but he so rarely gets one on one dialogue in the show that I'm not entirely sure how he would confront this situation.**

**Leave a review to sway the story :D  
**

**Edit: Oh god looking back at my old(er) work is so depressing. Made some minor changes, and I promise that it gets better D:**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heads up, Cardin is purposely acting out of character to try and turn his image around. Sure, he's a bastard, but the things one does for love... :)**

* * *

Pacing back and forth in the team CRDL dorm, Cardin's mind was turning far faster than ever before. Jaune was doing nothing but increasing the competition, and he couldn't afford to sit idly by if he wanted to win Pyrrha from the other guys. His bullying reputation already put him behind substantially, and he assumed Pyrrha didn't appreciate racism either from what he heard. One thing was for sure, he had to turn his image around.

He couldn't do that in one day, that would be stretching it. The real problem was the proposal itself. How could he get her alone to ask her out?

Cardin's face reddened at the thought. He shook his head from side to side, trying to keep himself on task. _Focus, man, focus!_

Was this something he could pull off on the fly? Should he bring flowers or chocolates as a peace offering? The orange haired boy decided to adjourn to the library for research purposes.

* * *

Beacon's vast library, though a labyrinth of reference articles and encyclopedias, housed its fair share of romance novels. Cardin wandered as surreptitiously as he could into the section marked "Lemons" and cracked open the first book he came across before flushing crimson and awkwardly shoving it back into place.

He wasn't looking for something like that... yet. He slapped himself across the cheek, shooing such thoughts from his mind and getting back on track.

"Confessions, confessions..." he muttered absentmindedly to himself, entering the "Romance" quarter. Running a finger along the spines, he read off the titles one by one until he found one that seemed relevant, "The World God Only Knows".

_This makes sense, she's kind of like a goddess,_ he nodded. Removing it from the shelf, it took him a second to realize he was reading from the wrong end.

_What kind of comic book is this?_

Scrutinizing every word, Cardin was enraptured by the confession skills of the main protagonist. However, none of the girls in the first volume were remotely like Pyrrha. After spending a good hour cross legged in the library, he reached over his head to grab the next few chapters.

_It needs to be... closer to home. I can't afford to screw this up. _Cardin delved deeper, poring through the book for any hint as to what he should do. _Can't be helped, I'll have to check the next one..._

It was late, almost curfew when the librarian informed the students over the local intercom that the building would be closing. Reluctantly, Cardin shelved the book he was on (a strange story involving a bat faunus which he somehow couldn't put down) and hoisted himself to his feet. All the reading, however reluctant, had given him a splitting headache and a subtle pain behind the eyes. Is this how Blake felt every day? How she coped, he did not know.

He put away the rest of the novels he had piled up on a stool (he couldn't take them back to the dorm, who knows what the others would think) and strolled out of the "Romance" quarter, exhausted. Turning the corner, he walked straight into a thin figure clad all in black. She fell to the floor, scattering books everywhere.

Cardin looked down at the sprawling form of the team RWBY girl, Blake. One of the many people he despised deeply, smart and quick to point out his mistakes. He resisted the urge to spit on her, his left eye twitching slightly with the strain of fighting old habits.

"New leaf, turning a new leaf," he breathed silently. The school's worst bully held out his hand and forced a smile. "H-here," he stammered.

Blake gave him a suspicious look, slapping away his hand and lifting herself off the ground to dust herself. She reached for her fallen literature and he took the chance to kneel down and help. He was going to do something nice here, whether she liked it or not. Before he could lay a single finger on her precious works she snatched them away, clutching them to her heart as if he would soil the pages with the lightest touch. She glared holes in him, daring him to try again.

He froze the awkward smile on his face, not daring to let down the facade for risk of angering her further. Instead, he turned and hung his shoulders sadly, walking until he was sure she couldn't see him before glowering with rage. Cursing the secretive girl a thousand times in his head, Cardin returned to the dorms defeated.

* * *

Teams RWBY and JNPR were gathered in the girls' room, chatting and sharing a few good laughs before bed. Yang was recounting the tale of her last spar, which as she put it had been 'AGES' ago. She had gotten to the part where she emptied her entire clip into her opponent point blank when a certain black haired individual interjected.

"Anyone notice something... off about Cardin today?"

Everyone (except for Nora and Ruby, gorging themselves on cookies) turned to Blake at this, Jaune's jaw dropping. They rarely heard Blake initiate conversation, as she was usually buried in her books, much less talk about people like Cardin. He was one of the few people she could actually hate because of his prejudice against Faunus and cruel personality.

"What did he do this time?" asked Weiss, propping herself up on her bunk.

"I can beat him up real quick if you want," muttered Yang, disappointed by the interruption. "Anyway..."

"Wait!" Jaune stopped her, earning himself a dirty look from the dragoness. "What did he do? Tell me in full detail."

"Well, I bumped into him at the library and he knocked me down."

"What? How dare he!" Ruby jumped up and brandished Crescent Rose, ready to protect her teammates. "Hey, Nora!" She grabbed for the cookies again, ready to protect her snacks.

"That's not what I meant, I fell down. And when I fell down he leaned over and tried to help me up. When I didn't let him, he tried to pick up my books."

"And? What did he do?" Pyrrha asked.

"Nothing. He just walked away after that. He was smiling really weirdly too."

"Hmmm... what could he have been plotting?" Weiss mused.

"Guys like Cardin don't do that out of nowhere. He must have some reason," Blake wondered.

"Blake, what section were you in?"

"Just around the Romance area, why?"

Jaune grinned, admiring his handiwork with a mental pat on the back. If he could get Cardin to read and study romance after only one conversation he might have a future as a relationship counselor. Ren watched his leader's suppressed joy with worry. _What have you set in motion, Jaune Arc?_

"Well, any change for the better should be welcomed readily," Pyrrha said, pleased that one less bully would be prowling about Beacon. "Maybe the rest of team CRDL will follow suit."

"Nah, he's planning something. There's nothing that can change that guy in so little time." Yang was clearly unimpressed by a single act of kindness. "I'm guessing that was the reason he was missing all day."

"He wasn't sitting with his team at dinner though, so we know he's working alone. Whatever he's doing, he's doing it on his own, and we know that he's too much of a coward for that," Blake reasoned.

"Why assume he's plotting? Isn't this a good thing?" Jaune asked.

"You can never be too sure with a criminal," drawled Weiss.

The room was divided between the accusing team RWBY and the impressed Jaune and Pyrrha. As Nora and Ruby struggled over the final cookie Ren walked over and split it in half with a gentle chop, making peace and bringing the other two girls into the conversation.

"I don't see any problem with Cardin becoming a good guy." Ruby was mumbling through a mouthful of cookie crumbs, dropping some on the ground to the distaste of Weiss.

"We can invite him to our cookie parties!" shouted Nora on her sugar high.

"No need to go that far, Nora," sighed Ren. Things were hectic enough without four other less than savory acquaintances.

"And these meetings aren't just for you to gorge yourself on cookies, you know!" exclaimed Weiss. "And stop spraying those crumbs everywhere!"

"Yeah, those cookies are mine!" Ruby pointed out playfully. They all laughed and moved on to happier topics, but Ren still harbored some concern. This was not what he had intended when he spoke to Jaune. He resolved to stay out of the blonde boy's romantic life from now on.

* * *

Having left the cookie party early and pleased with himself for getting the other boys to man up and confess to Pyrrha, Jaune returned to his own predicament. Weiss assumed he was a poser and a loser, and he was both. He had to find a way to prove himself otherwise, before she was swept off her feet by some other richer, handsomer, smarterer guy. He couldn't bear to think about her fawning over another man when he had been trying so hard for so long.

Just thinking about Weiss set his mind ablaze, so in a way he was lucky that her disposition was so cold. His heart wouldn't have been able to take a kind, accepting and innocent Weiss, a perfect personality on top of her perfect beauty. He would have exploded into flames where he stood.

Taking out a notepad and drunk on drowsiness, he clumsily sketched a quick chart, one column titled (+) and one titled (-). Under the (-) column he wrote down 'Thinks I'm fake' and 'Loser'. He paused.

"Well, chart complete."

Now that he had a visual representation, he stood the notepad up on his desk and scratched his chin. "Hmmm... yes, I'm beginning to see the problem."

He crashed onto his bed and sighed. Was it even possible? A proud heiress and a failure knight? Was he just too far below her to even be considered? Under the (-) column he added 'Above my rank'.

Somehow it didn't feel right. He thought back to all the romantic literature he had studied when he first started trying to court her with a plan. A theme that often came up was that... love surpasses all boundaries!

"Yes! That's it!" he cried, and enthusiastically crossed off 'Above my rank'. He had to completely stop thinking of her as an heiress, erase it from his mind. He had to work with Weiss the girl, not Weiss the Snow Queen or Weiss the Snow Angel. She had likes and dislikes too, he could work with those. No, no, no. No baits. He was going with the personal approach.

Under the (+) column he scribbled 'Is a girl'. It made perfect sense. Jaune folded up the notepad and stowed it away under his mattress, away from the prying eyes of his teammates. He turned out the lights and hopped into bed, unwinding and letting the night bring him dreams of success on rose tinted winds.

"I wonder what she likes in a guy..."

* * *

Ren noticed his notepad was missing immediately. He was somewhat meticulous with his belongings, having dealt with Nora for many years and always risking that she break something whenever he left his stuff lying around. Nora was with him the whole time in the team RWBY room, and the chances of stationary burglary at Beacon were very low. The only culprit he could see realistically was Jaune. That guy would be careless enough to take a whole pad of paper rather than a single sheet.

As Pyrrha and Nora prepared for bed, the latter causing a slight mess with the gladiator trying to tame Nora's toothpaste monstrosity, Ren realized that it had to do with Weiss. Because of the upcoming dance, little else was in his leader's mind than the heiress at the moment and he could imagine Jaune enthusiastically trying his hand at love letters before realizing he had spent the whole pad. But there was no cardboard backing in the trash can, nor failed romantic notes.

One place Jaune would hide something he didn't want others to see... Ren checked under the bed.

Jaune was predictable as always. The front page was foolishly left facing through the mesh and open for all the world to see.

"'Thinks I'm fake', huh." Oh Jaune, if only you understood.

* * *

**Please leave a review, it helps a lot even if you don't like the story. The more harsh reviews I get the better my work can get.**

**If you think the story sounds misogynistic, that's because we haven't seen the girls' side yet (hohohoforeshadowing) and neither Jaune nor Cardin understand women so much.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Cardin is once again helpfully OOC, but bear with it for the sake of this bromance! :D**

* * *

The day started with a beautiful symmetry. Both Cardin and Jaune got up early, dressed themselves and attended to their hygiene with particular care, checked over their preparations one final time in the mirror and gave their reflection the best smile possible. Both were on the edge. Both were excited to the point of glee.

_Today is the day,_ they thought.

Jaune slipped Ren's notepad out from underneath his bed, frowning at the slightly rumpled pages. He smoothed the crinkles out and puzzled over the chart. The first order of the day would be to remove 'Thinks I'm fake' from the list.

"What makes her think that, anyway?" he whispered to himself.

* * *

Cardin had the whole plan laid out before him. He would bring a single red rose (something he had read about as being a symbol of love) and give his best shot at ad libbing the rest. No matter how he looked at it it seemed rushed. Somehow he wished that Jaune had given him an earlier heads up. At least that would have given him more time to worry about her reaction.

He ran a few simulations in his mind, testing the feel of each. First, crushing rejection. He would have to be prepared for that, it was almost an inevitability. Then, acceptance. How did he react to that? He tried out a couple of responses on his tongue.

"Thank you? Thank you, dear god? Uh, thanks?"

That was no good. Any sign of uncertainty would have a negative impact on her mood and may prompt an attack. He had heard this from one of professor Port's lectures, though the subject of conversation may or may not have been women. Pyrrha wasn't really the type to resort to violence anyway. She was a kind person, the surrogate mother of team JNPR and helpful to all her classmates. She would never knowingly hurt another person outside of combat. The redhead was more likely to let him down easy and say something like 'lets be friends'.

Except they had never been friends in the first place. More like, 'lets stay at each others throats forever'.

He let out a deep sigh as he walked to the food court for breakfast, muttering to himself and drawing a few unwanted gazes. As he stalked, the larger boy was joined by a grumbling Jaune.

"What am I gonna do?"

* * *

"Cardin?"

The sound of Arc's voice irked the larger boy. He turned slowly to face a nervous looking Jaune, holding his tray and shifting from side to side expectantly. Cardin sighed.

"Sit down."

Jaune obliged.

"What is it?"

"Well, I've heard you're reading romance novels."

Cardin choked on his pancake. The blonde jumped up, a mini panic attack taking hold of him, then did the first thing that came to mind and swiftly thumped Cardin on the back. Jaune's hand clanged off the back of his armor ineffectively and Cardin took a turn at pounding the front of his chestpiece, forcing his meal down.

"What?" he shrieked, his voice cracking a bit from the shock.

"I heard it from Blake, don't look at me like that," Jaune whined, shaking feeling back into his hand.

"Nonono, you've got it all wrong. It was... research! I was in the library researching!" The lie fell a bit flat, as Cardin rarely put thought into his academic work.

"I know you were researching..." Jaune coaxed, "that's why I want you to share some of that knowledge with me. I need to confess to Weiss before the dance."

"Do it yourself," the bully snorted. "I didn't read through the Nagase arc for nothing." The implications of that sentence dawned on him and he slapped his hands over his mouth. "Wait, you didn't hear that."

"C'moooon," Jaune drawled. "You can't let me in on just one little romantic secret?"

"Never! Go read them yourself!"

"Don't be that way~. We're friends, aren't we?"

Cardin blinked. Friends? After all he had put Jaune through? He must really be desperate for Weiss' attention. Should he help him, as a fellow hopeless romantic, or leave him as he always would? Hesitating slightly, he leaned in and lowered his voice.

"What do you want to know?"

Jaune beamed and ran over his list in his mind. "Weiss thinks I'm fake, how do I fix that?"

Cardin leaned back, running a hand over his chin and "hmmm"ing, pulling the same strained thinking face he had worn the day before.

"Well, what do you usually do?"

"Oh, the usual: pick up lines, singing, dancing. Anything that can get her attention really." The blonde laughed awkwardly, embarrassed to be sharing his feelings so readily with the guy he had labored under not too long ago.

Shaking his head, Cardin interjected. "That's exactly the problem! Are you a singer?"

"Well... no," Jaune replied, defeated. "But how else can I get her to even look at me?" He slumped in his seat, stabbing his pancakes halfheartedly. "I don't have much of a chance at turning her head otherwise."

Cardin cleared his throat. "One thing I've learned from my... research," he began sheepishly, "is that relationships based on false appearances don't last. The truth always comes out eventually no matter how you try to hide it, at least in fiction, and ruins the girl's impression of the guy (or vice versa, depending on whether the main character is a guy or a girl). This, in turn, can be reversed by being true to the guy's own personality and reestablishing a relationship around that," Cardin quoted. "Basically, your only chance is being up front about you and your feelings."

Jaune sat up straight and nodded enthusiastically. "That made no sense at all."

Rubbing his temples, Cardin explained in simpler terms. "Try to show Weiss the real you. If it doesn't work, maybe it wasn't meant to be. As long as you do that, you can be satisfied with the result, right?"

"I dunno..." Jaune ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to think about what would happen after being rejected. "Well, you're the expert here... I guess?"

Cardin denied furiously.

"One more thing," he added. "Weiss thinks I'm a loser."

The taller boy chuckled. "She doesn't think you're a loser, you **are** a loser. Don't worry about it, losers always have a shot at the girl."

The blonde thanked Cardin and scampered off, leaving his lunch tray behind in his excitement. Cardin finished off his own plate and started on Jaune's breakfast, considering it payment for the consultation. Suddenly realizing he had been smiling, he slapped his cheek and shook away the look of content.

"'Friends', he says..."

* * *

Jaune had been jittering all day in anticipation. He had jittered his way through Dueling, losing as per usual to another student. He jittered his pencil to the ground a total of twenty three times in Grimm Studies. He had nearly jittered himself off of his seat in History before catching himself.

The whole time he kept repeating to himself 'The real me, the real me.' Pyrrha looked over to him strangely. Was it just her, or were Jaune and Cardin acting almost like mirror images of each other?

The final bell rang, and Jaune made a mad dash for the door, jumping over and subsequently falling over a desk in the process.

"Watch your step, Arc," warned Professor Oobleck. Some kids snickered, but Jaune shrugged it off.

"Yessir," he replied joyously, stumbling over another student's bag before skipping away feeling light as air. He had figured it all out in class (though he suspected he might just have to borrow Ren's notes again later, he hadn't really been thinking straight): he would meet her under the moonlight, present her with a single red rose (which he had read was a symbol of love or something on the internet) and ask her to the dance. No guitar, no song, no fuzzy costumes, just Jaune Arc in all his hopelessly head over heels glory.

"Ah wait, what if she's allergic to pollen?" He facepalmed, his plans dashed to smithereens. "Dammit!"

"No worries, roses are more or less fine for allergenics," mumbled Cardin. "Something about being perfect flowers and not using the air to pollinate... or something."

Jaune's eyes widened. "Since when are you a flower enthusiast?"

"Can it, Arc. I have my reasons for being interested."

Jaune slowed to match the larger boy's pace, the two strolling back to the dorms. He had apparently removed his armor and was dressed in a strangely pristine school uniform.

"When did you change?"

"Around lunchtime."

"No, I mean in general. When did you start reading and knowing things about flowers... and dressing nice too I guess. And helping people off the floor!" he added, remembering Blake's story.

Cardin cocked his head to the side, mulling over the events of the past few days. His pensive face had improved with the recent practice it had been getting. "I guess, when you told me to go for it. Asking Pyrrha to the dance, I mean. I'd just never thought about being more than a cliche school bully until then," he admitted sadly.

"And now, what do you want to be?" Jaune probed, enjoying the fruit of his labor immensely.

"I want to be..." Cardin started, then blushed profusely and turned away. "You know what, I don't have to be anything. I'll... that's right, I'll be a hunter! The best hunter there ever was! That's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

"True, true," the blonde chuckled. "And that's all there is to it."

"Right."

"Of course."

Jaune turned right at the intersection, heading in the direction of team JNPR's room. Cardin walked in the opposite direction towards team CRDL's room.

"See you, Cardin."

"Later, Arc."

The doors slammed. The two team leaders looked themselves over in their respective mirrors and fussed over their suits. After laying his armor on the bed and changing into his second best formal attire, Jaune trotted out again in search of a flower shop or perhaps an unattended vase. Cardin listened to his footsteps fade away before sighing deeply and opening the door.

"I want to be in love."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I love all the TWGOK arcs more or less equally, so I just picked the one Cardin would probably be least interested in. The entirety of the manga is freaking perfect for anyone who loves really fluffy love stories with a big helping of humor and a pinch of fantasy. Wait, am I allowed to recommend other manga here? And shouldn't a disclaimer be at the beginning of a chapter?  
**

**Question for any more experienced fanfic writers and readers out there, what is an acceptable wait period between chapters? I've been restrained by travel recently for a few days, but is a week between each chapter too much or too little?**

**Anyway, one thing I don't like about RWBY is how little the guys get to have bro moments. What with being the only two decent guys within ten feet of the canon, don't you think Ren and Jaune might have a bonding moment over the crazy women in their lives or something? I also love redemption stories, so Cardin and Jaune are a perfect pair for me; somewhat generic male friends who can have a laugh together and talk about their hopeless single stories or something.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So I've been dying to get this chapter out. Am I rushing it? Maybe. But I'm having so much fun writing and have so much stuff planned in advance, so forgive me on that. Anyway, hope you're enjoying the story a bit.**

* * *

The evening was drawing near and the sun slowly setting behind Beacon tower. Jaune lightly jogged into the courtyard. There were small vases lined up by the walls in preparation for the Beacon dance. He scanned them over for a red rose.

"White, white, white," he muttered to himself. Why was everything so formal here at Beacon? He had heard Weiss was on the decorating committee, and the lack of vibrant colors most definitely supported this, but this was a bit overblown. Wasn't Yang making sure she didn't go overboard? At this rate there might even be doilies under the punch bowl.

Well, maybe a white rose fit better. It was, like her, something pure and innocent, prim and proper and trimmed to perfection. He stifled a chuckle. She did have a thing for white, after all. The more he examined it, the more it reminded him of Weiss and the more he enjoyed its company.

He plucked a single snowy flower from its place and hummed merrily. She'd take him seriously. Finally, after all this time, he would be taken seriously. Just the thought of a woman honestly considering him lifted his spirits to an all time high. No more Jaune the goofball, just Jaune Arc.

The blonde noticed her immediately. Her white hair shone in the strengthening moonlight, her dress reflecting constellations in the sky. In his eyes, she seemed to shine with the heavens, a delicate glass figurine. He could not have imagined the scene any better, the two of them alone in the Academy gardens with the night encroaching from the east. Weiss looked from side to side, possibly searching for someone.

"What's she doing out so late?" he mused, but pushed the thought out of his cloudy mind. He stumbled a bit, intoxicated by the thrill.

_Do it now._

He walked up to her, briskly so he didn't lose sight of her. "Weiss!" he called.

She turned abruptly, smiling wide, then noticed the Arc and frowned.

"I told you already, I'm not going to the dance with you," she said.

"Wait, please just hear me out," he begged, reaching out to her.

"Oh sure, what are you going to do this time?" she wondered sarcastically. "A magic trick? A pantomime act?"

"No, there's no act, but please-"

"Can't you see I'm a little busy right now? Learn to read the mood or something you-"

He thrust out the flower, staying his trembling arm. Now or never. Weiss skewed her eyebrows quizzically.

"What's this, a flower? Wait, where did you get-"

He cut her off a second time. "Weiss Schnee!" he exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly.

She stared at him. He averted his eyes, too embarrassed to meet hers. The moment was there, but he was too cowardly to speak. _Is this it, Jaune?_ he thought. _Is this the real you?_

Mentally kicking himself in the rear, Jaune shook his head and strengthened his resolve. He hadn't finished what he came for just yet.

Still facing away, he continued. "I've wanted to say this since the moment I met you. At first, I thought you were just beautiful, because... well, you were, but that's not the point!" Jaune stammered. He glanced back to check her reaction, only to catch her silently smoldering and look away.

"But then... then I noticed that you were fun and caring and love your team and can make jokes when you want to." Jaune tumbled through his words, each one becoming more confident and decisive. "And I think that's what did it. That's when I fell in love with you."

Not daring to look at her reaction, Jaune waved the flower again frantically and bowed in an attempt to appeal to her.

"I know I might be a loser and I try all sorts of crazy stuff to get your attention but..." He looked up through the curtain of blonde hair into her light blue eyes. "...would you mind if I escorted you to the Beacon dance?"

The real Jaune was out, bared for all the world to see. Well, for Weiss to see. She blinked a few times, shocked. Jaune remained bowing, the white rose swaying precariously in front of her face. The wind blew it up to graze her nose and she exited her brief daze.

"Uh, I'm sorry Jaune," she started, slowly backing away from the pure flower. "I'm already going to the dance with someone, so I have to say no."

Jaune bit his lip, waiting for the inevitable.

"I... I'll be going so..." With that, Weiss retreated into the main building, leaving Jaune in his subservient position. The rose, holding on tenaciously to the edges of his fingertips, finally took flight on a sudden gust and fell to the ground.

Jaune slowly raised himself to a tall, proud standing position. He dusted himself off, smacking his suit solemnly. The knight snorted at himself.

"Just a little sooner and maybe..."

Jaune strolled to the dormitories, hands in his pockets and kicking at imaginary cans in his way.

* * *

Cardin's footsteps were heavy. He twirled the red rose between his fingers as he paced through the halls of Beacon. The sun was setting and curfew would be up in a few short minutes. He had been a fool not to send her a message or ask her to wait outside, now he was paying the price. With all that planning and literary preparation, forgetting to invite her to his confession was just ridiculous.

"Too much time in the library and my brains have turned to mush," he rumbled.

He had just decided to turn back to the room and give up on a confession tonight when he spotted her in the distance. Of course he would be able to spot her anywhere, what with that brilliant red ponytail which burned brightly even under the cover of dusk. The lighting from the moon, the empty halls, this could work.

He waved a hand and she took notice of him, stalking over angrily. She seemed pissed over something, but he couldn't think of anything. Was it really safe to continue? Cardin ran over the simulations again, but seeing her right in front of him threw all his plans into disarray. He couldn't think. He stood frozen like a deer in headlights.

"Cardin!"

"Yes!" he replied, standing to attention and staring up at the ceiling, avoiding Pyrrha's very direct gaze. She was always to the point like that, another thing he loved about her.

"Have you seen Jaune?" she barked, uncharacteristically gruff.

"What? Uh, no, not recently. I think he was looking for Weiss around campus..."

"Thanks!" she shouted, and began to hurry off in the direction of the gardens, fuming.

"Wait!" he cried, and grabbed her by the arm with his free hand. A bad decision, as Pyrrha deftly threw him to the ground. He had forgotten, she was a renowned huntress and combat specialist.

"Oh dear, Cardin, I'm sorry!" She knelt down and checked to see if he was okay. "It was just a reflex, I didn't mean to-"

"Wait, I said," he groaned as he struggled to his feet. Pyrrha gave him a hand.

"I just need to talk to you. Five minutes tops."

She crossed her arms again and raised her eyebrows. Something _was_ bugging her, but he couldn't let that stop him.

"I really like how you're like that." When she gave him a blank stare, he elaborated "How you're always looking out for people and being kind to people and trying to help people. That's something I really admire about you and something I never could pull off on my own."

"Oh, don't say that Cardin. You're getting better, I promise," she soothed.

"You're also amazing, and good at everything you do. But despite that you're the nicest girl alive. And that's the reason why... I fell in love with you." His voice faded to silence on the last few words.

"Excuse me?" she inquired, prompting him to speak up. Her foot was tapping the floor incessantly and she could not wait much longer.

"I fell in love with you!" he exclaimed, and whipped out the red rose, slightly crushed by the fall. "So... would you please go to the Beacon dance with me?"

He let the confession sit there for a beat, then two. Why wasn't she responding? He watched as the expression of surprise on her face grew into one of rage.

"I'm sorry, I didn't wan-"

"THAT JAUNE ARC!" she screamed, throwing her head back. "This is the fifth time today something like this happens! I mean, even Russel confessed to me today, all because Jaune is spreading some stupid rumor that I'll go to the dance with anyone!"

"What? But-"

"NO! This is so foolish! I can't believe that idiot would go and do something like that just to get me a date to the dance. Doesn't he... doesn't he understand how it feels?" she began sobbing, her tears leaving echoes in Cardin's mind like Goliath footsteps. With all the test runs and all the books he had read, he had overlooked the most important aspect of the confession: her own feelings.

She wiped her cheeks and set her features in anger again, her eyes ablaze. "I'm going to find that idiot and give him a piece of my mind. Dust, I've never been so humiliated in my life."

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes, Cardin?" she growled.

"I... I was serious when I asked. I only need an answer, it doesn't matter what it is," he whispered sheepishly.

She smiled through her rage, melting his heart again. "Sorry Cardin. Maybe if you'd come to me sooner."

"Yeah, sooner," he mumbled.

"I hope we can still be friends."

He nodded silently, and watched her stomp off in a fury. Turning to the moon, he hung his head sadly.

He had a chance this whole time. He had a chance and he blew it.

"Friends, huh," he sighed. Then it struck him.

Since when had Pyrrha become his friend?

Listlessly twirling the rose between his fingertips, he staggered back to the dorm. His motivation was gone. All that was left was a chestnut haired meathead in a nice suit. He fumbled the stem and let the flower drop slowly to the cold stone floor.

* * *

**So it turns out I suck at romance. Also, double rejection! I actually really like this kind of stuff, but if you think it's stupid just tell me.**

**I know it's slightly OOC, but that's because these are trying times for our characters, and who knows what canon Pyrrha is like when she gets angry?**

**If you think I'm ruining the story, please leave a review telling me how much I suck. All reviews are super helpful, so thanks in advance :D  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**So I've been away from the internet for a while, what with some travel issues and such, but here's a followup to the last chapter.**

* * *

Curfew struck just as a certain dejected blonde staggered into team JNPR's room.

Jaune lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling, watching squiggles float through his vision. Alternate scenes played through his mind, with a smiling Weiss taking the rose delicately from his hands. Maybe if he had realized earlier, maybe if he hadn't deliberated on asking her to the dance, he would have been excited beyond belief for the event tomorrow. Instead he felt… empty. It hadn't even been a rejection; it was entirely his fault that he was too late. He had only himself to blame.

"I screwed it up," he whispered to the empty room. "I had a chance and I missed it."

Surely the happy go lucky Jaune Arc wouldn't be set back by something like this. The lovable goofball Jaune, laughing and trying his best. It was natural that he would fail. He had been prepared for that. Wasn't that what always happened anyway? He had failed tests before, failed in combat, even failed his entrance exams.

So why did it hurt so badly to fail in love?

He remembered the feeling of being excluded from Beacon. A gut wrenching pain as he shredded the paper between his trembling fingertips. Now, the same crushing sensation enclosed his heart.

He didn't want to lie in self-loathing any longer. He couldn't think those dark thoughts. He smiled to the best of his ability and sat bolt upright on his mattress. Freezing his face in an awkward grin, holding his expression in place lest his false contentment crumble to nothing, he began to strip off his second best suit. He handled the fabric excessively roughly, taking his anger at himself out on the clothes he wore to the confession. Slipping his arms out of the sleeves, he flung the jacket at the wall. It fell and knocked a comical smiling alarm clock off his bedside table. The tinkling of shattered glass rang loud and clear through the room, making him wince.

"Aaaaah shit," he groaned. Jaune realized he was overreacting. Why even get angry over something like this? It was his fault, not the alarm clock's. His fault. His fault. His…

He snapped to attention and realized his heel was hovering above the poor timepiece. It's goofy cartoon face looked up at him in fear, cowering beneath the product of his rage.

Jaune stumbled to the bathroom and splashed water on his face, the cold bringing him to his senses. He panted, letting his blonde hair fall over his eyes, concealing his ragged reflection from sight. If he had seen himself, he would have noticed the shining tear tracks painting his flushed cheeks.

There were few moments when Jaune raised a hand against his surroundings. His sisters had found his inexplicably trashed room, unaware of the offending paper scraps under the overturned wastebasket. They had given him a good scolding, and even he could have seen how utterly stupid it was. But something had worked itself out of his beaming exterior in that instant. Something mean. Something furious.

He tried to work himself out of his suit pants, but upon bending over realized he didn't have the strength to stand back up. Deflated, he kicked his way out of the legs and snatched his footie pajamas from the floor. He dragged them up to his waist and tied the sleeves around one another, tearing off the dress shirt to air out his chest and cool off. For some reason, his left breast was burning up.

Ren and Nora watched, stunned to silence. They had never seen their leader get angry, truly angry, over anything. Sometimes he got sad. Most times he was happy or awkward. But an angry Jaune was entirely foreign to them.

"My fault, my fault," he mumbled, leaning back at the foot of his bed and hanging his head between his knees.

* * *

The door slammed open again and Pyrrha stalked through. The two onlookers were even more shocked by the furious redhead than anything. She was always levelheaded and reasonable, the strongest foundation of their team.

Nora waved to Pyrrha amiably, speaking over the husk of Jaune as if he didn't exist. "Hey Pyrrha!"

"JAUNE!" she shouted, startling him out of his pitiful daze. Upon getting a grasp of the situation, his expression turned sour.

"WHAT?!" he replied from his position on the floor, mimicking her volume. Still drunk on temper, the blonde's reply ticked off the already fuming Pyrrha.

"How dare you… do you have any idea what happened to me today?"

"NO, and frankly I don't care," Jaune retorted, before returning to his hunched posture.

"All day, people have been asking me to the dance because a certain someone spread around some rumor that I would go to the dance with anyone. Would you happen to know anything about this?"

Nora gasped. Ren winced.

"That's great, isn't it?" he sneered. "At least you've got a date to the dance now. Well GOOD FOR YOU!"

"NO! That was NOT the end of our discussion! Do you have any idea what girls are thinking?"

"No, apparently I don't!"

"Exactly! So why did you even think of meddling in my affairs like that?"

"Who knows? You always do the same to me, don't you?"

"Because I try to help you!" screeched Pyrrha, stamping her foot and shaking the contents of the next desk over.

"And I thought I could help you for once, but what a shame!"

"No Jaune, that wasn't helpful at all, that was embarrassing as… as hell!"

At this he looked blankly at her, unable to comprehend the rage of the woman in front of him. Black began to creep into the edges of his vision. What normal person wouldn't want to feel wanted by many people? But she wasn't a normal person, now was she? No, he remembered now. She wasn't just Pyrrha Nikos, his friend and teammate. She was Pyrrha Nikos, renowned athlete and proud woman.

"Just because you get all the attention already… just because you're already the greatest in everyone's eyes… you're saying you don't need people to want you?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened, then narrowed, a blazing fire burning behind her gaze. "NOT LIKE THIS, NO!" she snapped. "Dammit Jaune, I thought you would understand! I don't WANT to go to the dance with just anyone. I don't WANT a pity date. I wanted something REAL!"

"I DID TOO!" he screamed. "But sometimes we don't get what we want. Sometimes we screw up, we wait too long and it's GONE! What then, Pyrrha, what THEN?"

"I'll tell you what we DON'T do, Jaune. We DON'T just settle. We CHANGE. LEARN. THINK. Just do something, but DON'T settle for less, because that's when you really lose."

"Alright, so we'll both go to the dance alone, like losers!"

"You still don't see it," she hissed like a pot boiling over. "You still don't see what I wanted."

"What DID you want, Pyrrha?" he roared, his face growing red from the prolonged exertion of the shouting match.

"What do you care?"

"Tell me, dammit!"

"I wanted to go with YOU!" yelled Pyrrha.

Silence.

Jaune mouthed a surprised 'Oh'.

"WANTED. I WANTED to go with you," she emphasized. "But not after this."

Pyrrha stomped to bed and pulled the curtain that divided team JNPR's male and female halves, ushering a somewhat uncomfortable Ren to the other side. Jaune got up and collapsed onto his mattress.

"All of it. All of it was my fault."

* * *

When morning came, Jaune lay patiently face down in bed. He heard the door open and close once, twice, three times before getting up himself. He couldn't face the others, especially not Pyrrha, not after what happened the previous night. Today was the day his tragedy came to fruition. Today was the day the Beacon dance took place.

He sat apart from his team in the mess hall today, haggard and depressed. Somehow, he had screwed up both his and Pyrrha's good time at the dance. Somehow, he had singlehandedly ruined two of the chipperest students' good moods. Ren and Nora might be fine, but thinking of the tears she had in her eyes when they fought made his stomach turn.

Cardin plopped down next to him, bags under his eyes and chestnut hair in glorious disarray.

Oh yeah, he had messed up Cardin's confession too.

"Not sitting with your team today?"

"Nah," he murmured drowsily. "Thinking of taking some alone time. Don't want to bring the others down, right?"

Shit. Cardin was being way more considerate than he had been. What was he thinking, bringing that stupid attitude to the dorms last night? He would've been better off sleeping on the roof and not disturbing the NPR of JNPR. Then again, Pyrrha would still be pissed.

"So no luck?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Sorry," Jaune said sincerely.

"Apology accepted." So the larger boy _did_ know that he had messed up his chances.

"I… I didn't know it would come to that."

"No, I get it. Besides, she rejected the first guy, so there's little chance she would have gone with me anyway. I'm just glad to have gotten my feelings out there."

"Yeah, I know," Jaune agreed, nodding his head as enthusiastically as he could with sleep deprivation. "It's like this huge weight has been lifted from your shoulders, you know?"

"Uh-huh. So you did it too?"

"Yep."

"Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for? I haven't even told you whether I succee- wait a second."

"Hmm?" Cardin raised his eyebrows, taking a long sip of hot chocolate.

"Are you her date?"

Cardin stifled a barking laugh so as not to splatter his armor in milk. Gingerly resting his cup on the table, he wiped off his chocolate mustache and half-coughed, half-guffawed. Recovering, he continued:

"Weiss had a date already?"

"Yeah, so it's not like it was a rejection anyway. I was just… too late."

"Same here. I might've had some tiny glimmer of hope, but I wasted my time and just let it pass me by. Still, it's surprising that the Ice Queen already had someone to go with her to the dance."

"I know, right? I was shocked myself," the blonde chuckled sadly. "But I guess I can't stand in the way of a guy who can catch my Snow Angel's heart."

"Don't think like that," grumbled Cardin. "Your grumpiness is contagious. I literally just got over my own failure. You think I can afford to deal with yours too?"

"Sorry, my bad."

* * *

It dawned on Ruby for the first time at breakfast, a whole twenty-four hours after the rest of the group noticed. She had been resting her head on the table at which all six of her friends were seated (excluding Jaune), staring through her empty milk glass when she spotted the blonde knight sitting next to a familiar armor clad figure.

"Hey," she began tentatively, as if not believing it herself. "Hasn't Jaune been hanging out a lot with Cardin recently?"

Both teams looked at the young huntress. No one had bothered to bring it up because they had assumed it was a personal issue Jaune was working through on his own. It had happened before.

"Wait, you didn't notice until now?" Yang asked with a skewed grin.

"I've actually been wondering about that myself," muttered Ren carelessly before catching himself. This was definitely something he didn't want to get involved in.

"So we're really going to start talking about this now?" muttered Blake. She glanced over to a sullen looking Weiss, tracing circles in her cereal. She was worried about the heiress, who hadn't spoken a word since the night before. She would do anything to engage her in conversation, but the girl remained distant.

Nora waved her hands in refusal, smiling widely to cover up her embarrassment. "Nah, they're probably discussing the pancake shortage and its effects on the economy. Speaking of which…"

She smiled and leaned over to Ren's plate, who gave her one swift chop on the wrist and scooted his tray away from her. His fuchsia eyes recognized when Nora was uncomfortable after years of living together with her, and seeing her teammates fight had put a slight dent in her joyful demeanor. His gaze drifted over to Pyrrha, whose perfection was slightly off today. Her circlet was crooked, one of her earrings was missing, little things like that which clued experienced onlookers into the turmoil beneath her immaculate surface.

Ruby and Yang swapped theories until they got bored of being the only two evidently interested in the subject, and more pleasant conversation recommenced. Blake and Ren exchanged knowing looks over Weiss' drooping ponytail. As ever-observant teammates, they recognized a serious problem when they saw one. Four team members were suffering the face of the upcoming dance.

What was going to happen to team JNPR?

* * *

**Too angsty? Totally stupid? If you think so, leave a review and I'll try my best to fix it! Thanks in advance, and I hope you're enjoying the story so far!**

**Some edits made. In your opinion, is this Jaune too OOC for the story or too much of an alternate Jaune?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay, more free time! Might as well spend it typing furiously until my parents think I've gone crazy.**

* * *

"Are you going to the Beacon dance?"

Cardin looked to the boy slouching next to him with sudden interest. "What? Why do you want to know?"

Jaune sighed deeply, running a hand through his blonde hair to relieve an itch behind his ear. "I just want to have an idea of how quickly I'm allowed to recover. Wouldn't most guys in my position ignore the whole thing out of spite?"

Cardin was silent for a moment, considering the event's implications. Sure, he could go without a date, but he hadn't really been planning to in the first place. Until Jaune came along, he hadn't given honest thought to attending large social gatherings. He hadn't imagined that his team could possibly have a chance at joining in with the reveling teenagers like that, what with their bad reputation and the way the tension rose notably when they entered the vicinity. Their fearsome repute had been enjoyable, but was it really worth leaving behind carefree life like the others?

He opened his mouth uncertainly and mouthed "Can I?" Jaune didn't pick up on the gesture, but Cardin clenched his fists. No need to ask for permission. The Winchester from before certainly wouldn't have bothered, he mused with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah… I think I'll go."

Jaune smiled. If Cardin could recover so quickly, so could he. "Sure. Let's have fun together, Cardin." The shorter boy held out his hand with new energy. Cardin took it and hardened his resolve. The two had a brief battle of grips, then started chuckling.

"Who would've thought that just a few weeks ago, we were at each others' throats?"

"Hey, we weren't at each others' throats, we were just dealing with rather unfortunate circumstances."

"Sure, that I caused."

The blonde turned to him with soft, kind eyes. Just knowing that Cardin felt regret improved his mental image drastically, as if the sun was finally shining on his character.

"I can find it in myself to forgive you."

"Thanks."

Jaune lifted his tray and began making his way to the trash bins. The bigger boy waved to him as he walked away. Somehow, he felt closer to Cardin than some of his teammates, as if their similar circumstances caused him to see the kindred spirit in the other team leader. He really was the only hunter Jaune knew who would relate to him on these topics. The hopeless romantic who had powered through the library's resources with only a confession as motivation had evolved beyond the mindless bully he feared from before. He was a friend.

A crazy idea struck him.

"Cardin?"

"Yeah?" he mumbled.

"Do you want to go to the dance with me?"

Silence.

"I… I didn't know you swung that way."

Jaune blushed and shook his hands in denial. "Th- that's not what I meant!"

Cardin grinned wide. Jaune Arc was still as awkward as ever. The enjoyable goofball inside of him was already recovering fast, rebuilding his silly confidence to its former glory.

* * *

The eve of the dance was a beautiful clear night, the stars sparkling in open view for the enjoyment of every festive hunter/huntress mingling in the ballroom. The air was alive with chatter, music and laughter. Camped out by the refreshments, turning a blind eye to the happy couples on the dance floor were three lone figures.

"I see you're hiding at the punch bowl too."

"Yep," replied an elegantly dressed Ruby Rose. She seemed to be swaying uneasily on her high heels, as if they were stilts.

"To the socially awkward," he sighed, and clinked glasses gently with Ruby as she giggled slightly, then turning to do the same with Cardin. The larger boy looked stiff, leaning unnaturally on the table, waiting for something disgustingly social to occur. Coming had been a bad idea, a bad idea indeed. If someone tried to talk to him…

Disregarding the sound of cracking knuckles, Ruby gently patted Jaune on the back.

"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss."

"Meh, its fine," Jaune said casually, suppressing his scowl for the sake of politeness. Something about the situation still got on his nerves, no matter how much he denied it. "Though I wonder just who caught her eye. Are they here yet?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, cocking her head quizzically. Was Jaune under the wrong impression from something?

"Well, come on, anyone who can thaw Weiss Schnee's heart must be a complete catch. Its not so weird to want to see the guy."

'I just need to see him. See him and his stupid face,' he monologued internally, taking a long sip of his fruit punch.

"No, I mean, Weiss came already, alone."

"Ah-"

He sprayed fruit punch at the window, careful not to spatter the once in a lifetime vision of Ruby Rose in an evening gown. Cardin shook his head. Over the top as usual, Jaune.

"What? Alone? But…"

"What's wrong Jaune?"

He searched for her signature shining white in the crowd and spied her by a slender vase, fretting over a single drooping white rose. A white rose just like the one he had presented to her, he noted with a twinge of sorrow. As she attempted to revive it with all her strength, he saw a pained expression on her pristine features matching his own. Finally she gave up, her arms falling to her sides as she gazed wistfully after the slowly dying flower.

"Yeah, she said she had too much to focus on to worry about boys."

"That wasn't… what she told me…" he deliberated, his breath catching in his chest and searing him like fire. Whatever resolve he had built against the uncomfortable suit and uncomfortable atmosphere came crumbling down, his surroundings collapsing in on him and crushing the air out of his lungs.

"Who… but… alone?" he gasped. Ruby just nodded, raising an eyebrow at her friend's strange reaction. Jaune was over the top, but he wasn't the type to be stunned to silence.

"Jaune? Are you okay?"

Who was he? Jaune rapped his forehead for ideas. She had been going with someone. He knew because she had told him herself. No doubt about it, she had been going with someone before he unexpectedly broke it off. A mystery man, one with the specs to catch Weiss Schnee's eye and the balls to drop her like it was nothing.

He knew one guy. They had crossed paths before, and he remembered the look in Weiss' eyes when that guy had introduced himself. It was him. He was at fault.

Jaune chuckled, ignoring Ruby and Cardin's worried frowns. Now he _had_ to find him. Find him and his stupid face and put an end to this charade.

"Hold my punch," he growled. Puffing out his chest, he stomped off on the outskirts of the dancefloor towards a certain laughing blue haired individual. Without a care, he entertained Blake and Sun with impressions and funny faces, guffawing alongside them.

Jaune reached out and tapped him on the shoulder, attracting the attention of the partying hunter.

"Neptune…"

"Yes?"

* * *

Pyrrha strolled with all the grace and poise expected of an esteemed warrior. She made her way to the punch bowl, greeted enthusiastically by Ruby.

"Hey Pyrrha!" she cheered. The gladiator smiled and returned the greeting.

"Hello Ruby. And hello Cardin." Her smile was kind and composed as usual.

"Uh… I… hello," he stuttered, suddenly straightening up and brushing off his suit jacket. She was robed in a brilliant crimson dress with a dipping back and slit down the leg. The garment fit her form perfectly everywhere, which he double-checked with a quick once over just to be safe.

'Isn't she showing a bit too much skin?' he wondered, trying to keep his eyes away from that deadly slit, almost like a stage curtain revealing her well toned thighs in their full glory. A dangerous girl indeed.

"It's a great party, isn't it? Team RWBY set most of it up, right? I'd like to offer my congratulations."

"Oh? Ahahah… thanks, but I didn't do too much…" Ruby laughed sheepishly. "You should really thank Yang and Weiss, though. It's a nice party."

The young huntress rubbed her arm awkwardly, revealing her discomfort to the attentive Pyrrha. Always the motherly one, the redhead poured herself some fruit punch and stood next to an anxious Ruby, prompting conversation. She smiled and whispered a little "thank you" at the gesture.

Cardin grinned in appreciation as he watched Pyrrha expertly fixing Ruby's worries. She really was perfect. It was almost unfair of him to think that he could try to monopolize her sunny aura just to patch up his own shortcomings. In that moment he felt like a shadow, hanging in the corner and recoiling from her brilliance when it came near. That was him, just a shadow hiding from the eyes of the others.

Was that why he bullied others? He rarely considered his actions from his own perspective, instead seeing himself in the eyes of others. 'Is this right for my character? What would they think if I did this?' Was it this search for attention that had put him in the situation he was in today? Had he dug his character into a hole, like some sort of slapstick comic who continually escalated his attempts for the laughter of his audience?

And now he was at the Beacon Dance, chuckling to himself in a corner by the drinks, shaking off the bully's shackles. All thanks to one foolish young Jaune Arc who gave him a chance to change and find himself outside of his angry exterior. All thanks to Jaune Arc, who had misunderstood everything and caused problems for everyone and was still trying his best to help him out by convincing him to go to the dance anyway.

Speaking of which, where was Jaune? He'd just left his punch with Ruby and disappeared somewhere. Cardin barely caught a glimpse of blonde and blue stepping onto the empty balcony. Turning back to Pyrrha, he saw her throwing the balcony sidelong glances of her own. Ever vigilant she was when it came to her teammates, particularly the somewhat dumb team leader.

Listening to Ruby chatter, Pyrrha's mind raced on its own cyclical track.

_What are you going to do, Jaune?_

* * *

**I'd say that's enough for one chapter. I'll get the next one out really quick, as soon as possible, promise. I'm sorry I'm not as fast as I was, but this is a more manageable speed what with school and stuff, so I really appreciate your patience.**

**I like to refer to the original transcripts of the canon series because it makes the differences stand out more and ensures that I don't go too far with OOC speculation (something I've been scolded several times over).**

**As per usual, leave a review telling me exactly what I did wrong in full detail. I realize that Jaune and Cardin are both very OOC at this point (almost as if they switched personalities; maybe they picked up each other's habits) but I'm not sure if I want to change it as this point as I'm mostly writing for pleasure. Just in case, I added that as a disclaimer on the summary, so yeah.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yaaaaay, more angst and general bad decision making. I must say, this is delicious to write for me. I hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing.**

* * *

"So... what did you want to talk to me about?"

Jaune said nothing, letting a cool evening breeze slow the pounding of blood in his ears. This wasn't him, this wasn't the Arc that he wanted to be. Just talk it out with him, talk it out...

Receiving no response as Jaune composed himself, Neptune made the first move. He started cool and casual, as he usually did.

"This party's pretty lame, huh? I mean, ballroom dancing." He made a derisive "pffft" sound, causing Jaune to tense up. It was no good. Hearing him speak so freely was infuriating.

"Yeah..." he growled under his breath, trying his best not to let his anger show.

"Cute girls though, huh?"

There was a sharp cracking noise as Jaune tightened his fist.

"Is that all you think about?"

"Huh?" said Neptune, puzzled. Was Jaune always this tense? When they'd met, he'd had a feeling that the blonde was a pretty chill guy. Then, as Jaune turned around, he caught a glimpse of the same face he had worn back then. A look of contempt, disappointment, restrained frustration. Back then he had also been angry, but was it because of Neptune himself?

_Maybe he just doesn't like me?_

"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?"

"Whoa!" What, was this guy an SJW or something? What was wrong with how Neptune did things? It was all in good fun.

"Where's this coming from?" Neptune asked, but Jaune advanced on him swiftly, the sudden movement causing Neptune to stumble back a few steps.

"Did you do it?" he seethed, mere inches from Neptune's face. Do what? _That_? He didn't fool around like that! This damn pervert, thinking he can just drag him out here to ask something like this?

"What? No!"

"Then why... why is she alone?"

"Who? You're not making any sense right now!"

"Weiss Schnee!" Jaune exploded, so loud that some dancers turned nonchalantly at the noise. No one paid any heed as he continued. "Did she ask you to the dance?"

"I... uh... yes..." he admitted.

"Did you turn her down?"

"Well... yeah."

"WHY?" Jaune raged, abandoning his worthless attempts at peaceful conversation. This guy had no right to be sheepish, not with what he'd done. It was_ him_. He was at fault here.

"I, _uh_... it, uh... it just didn't work out, you know?"

"_What_? You think that you're too _cool_, too many other _options_? Weiss Schnee asked _you_ to the dance. What in the _world_ could _possibly_ keep you from go-"

"I can't dance!" Neptune exclaimed.

...

...

"Beg your pardon?"

"I can't dance, man!"

Jaune blinked. So even the mighty Neptune ran into trouble here and there. The confession almost shocked him out of his rage.

But not yet.

"So you're saying..." he began tentatively, "you would rather break a girl's heart and go to a dance _alone_ than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?"

"That about sums it up, yeah."

Jaune grabbed Neptune by his orange and black tuxedo, ruffling the bow tie and pinning the blue haired hunter against the wall. From this angle no one could see what he was about to do, and the music was certainly too loud for them to be heard in the open night air.

The other boy winced and looked up to glare at his aggressor, but quickly shrunk down as he caught a glimpse of the hatred in Jaune's eyes. The blonde was seeing red, his breathing ragged and deep as if he was a Grimm himself.

"Wh-what are you doing, man?" stammered Neptune in the face of the vengeful Jaune.

"Unforgivable. I can't even believe you."

"Look, if you want Weiss she's all yours! I don't wanna get in your way!"

"That's not it... you don't understand. She didn't want a pity date, she wanted something real." Jaune shuddered at the words as he recalled the incident with Pyrrha. "She doesn't want me, she wants you. You don't understand, you don't understand! You fall for girls all the time, and they fall for you all the time. It's nothing to you, isn't it? Some of us fall in love once in a lifetime, and when you're the man who could warm Weiss Schnee's heart you take responsibility. You don't blow her off for some stupid reason like _not being able to move your legs to a beat_."

Neptune frowned and drew himself back up to his full height. "What are you talking about? What gives you the right to decide who I take to the dance and who I don't take the dance?"

Jaune moved his hand to Neptune's shoulder and pushed him back against the wall forcefully. "When you see someone treating a beautiful vase like a cheap knockoff, you scold them. People like that have no respect for the appreciation of important things."

"You're talking really weird, Jaune. Are you okay?" he squeaked as Jaune increased the pressure on his arm. He could try to push Jaune off, but making the blonde angrier seemed like a bad idea, even for him.

"Never better." Jaune wasn't used to this feeling of power, of control. All his life he had been a relatively weak and timid kid, never sufficiently brawny to stand out and excel next to his peers. It almost surprised him how he managed to hold the larger boy down with the force of his outrage. Those extra sessions with Pyrrha had certainly paid off tremendously.

Pyrrha. He remembered her hurt expression clearly even through the haze of emotion he was experiencing. Didn't he have to do this for her too? And Cardin? The weight of all the people he had caused problems for suddenly crashed down on his head, but he used it to lean into Neptune all the more and caused the blue haired boy to draw a sharp breath. Neptune had to pay for what he did. It was all his fault. His fault.

Jaune raised his free fist, his knuckles blanching as he squeezed.

Why was he still holding back? Surely Neptune could have just turned on Jaune. In a fight, wouldn't the playboy win by a mile? Was Jaune... actually stronger than him? Between the two, who was really mighty? Who was really wrong?

His fault.

He shook the jumbled questions out of his head. His target was right in front of him. Neptune trembled under his grasp, almost in tune with Jaune's jittering knees.

No.

Why was he holding back?

Was he... still wrong?

His fault.

His fault.

What was his fault?

Somehow, Jaune couldn't remember. The events of the past few days were blurring together like ripples in a clear pond, obscuring the substance underneath.

He had to pay.

For what he did.

But what had Neptune done?

A heavy hand fell on Jaune's tousled blonde hair, in complete disarray from the excitement. He drew a short breath, sending waves through his bleary vision. Neptune was still in front of him. Cardin was behind him, one hand in his pocket, standing tall.

He almost looked kind of cool right there.

"Jaune," he said softly. "What were you planning on doing?"

The blonde released his grip on his quarry's tuxedo. Neptune slid down to the ground, sighing in relief. Jaune stared at his feet, ashamed. Of what? His inability to finish the job?

"Jaune, this isn't you. Actually, you look more like me a year ago."

"Bet you weren't fucking shaking like a leaf," he cursed, biting on his lip.

His fault.

"Why?"

Jaune turned away and walked to the railing, unable to face the gentle eyes of his former tormentor. He kept his gaze on the campus, watching the wind kick up storms of leaves.

"Was it for her?"

...

"Or was it for you?"

Jaune pivoted on his left leg and swung hard, but Cardin knocked away the unsteady attack like nothing.

"You can still throw a punch at me, huh?"

"Stop sounding so damn _reasonable_," he hissed.

"I know what it's like to feel stupid, Jaune. I've been stupid for most of my life."

"I know."

"Jeez, don't agree with me over something like that." Cardin frowned jokingly. "But in all seriousness. I know what it feels like to be wrong too."

"I'm not wrong!" shouted Jaune, but it came out halfheartedly.

"It's okay. You can't always do the right thing. No one does."

"SHUT UP! It's his fault!"

"You sound like a five year old, Jaune."

"NO! It's him! Do you know what he does? He toys with girls like its nothing, he never takes anything seriously, he... he..." Jaune was drawing a complete blank. "He... he took her..."

Cardin snorted. "I know how that feels. Not like _I_ held it over _you_." Cardin leaned on the railing next to Jaune. "So even the pure Jaune of Arc gets jealous. Amazing."

Neptune positioned himself next to Jaune on his left side, and the two larger boys flanked him as he glared intently at the topiary. He wouldn't look them in the eyes. Imagine a wall on either side, yeah, that's it. Block them out.

"I'll do it," said Neptune.

"What," Jaune responded flatly, dreading the answer in spite of himself.

"I'll go talk to Weiss. If that's what you want."

"You like her?"

...

"Yeah. She seems pretty cool."

"Be careful with her. If you don't... I won't forgive you." The threat carried no impact, an empty promise if anything.

"Don't worry. I'll take responsibility. Hearing you be so honest with yourself... its almost inspiring in a way. If that makes sense." Hearing Neptune spit his own words back at him was too much. Jaune hung his head between his shoulders and laughed.

"I'm sorry, Neptune. That was a stupid thing to do."

"Everyone does stupid things," the blue haired hunter reminded him. "At least, we do." He gestured at himself, Cardin and Jaune collectively, earning genuine, booming laughter from Cardin. Jaune joined in, and Neptune followed suit. When had the playboy become part of the group? Wasn't he... no. He was never to blame. Jaune had been pushing his responsibilities on him from the start.

It was pointless for him to continue considering him as an enemy. He was just another victim. A victim of Jaune's childish game.

Jaune twinged as he noticed Neptune subtly smooth the new crinkles in his suit.

"No, I really mean it. I didn't mean to involve you in this. Well, actually, I did but... I mean I feel bad for getting you involved in this. In the end it was..."

"You don't have to say it. Just enjoy the party. They really did a great job with the decorations and everything." With that, Neptune waved a little goodbye and strolled casually back inside, as if nothing had happened. He was a man who would keep his word, even despite being so damn wishy washy. It almost hurt to watch him go, he was being so damn nice.

Why did he have to be so nice?

If he had just been an asshole, it would have been so much easier.

Jaune placed his face on the cold railing, wrapped his arms around his head and started to cry. Loud, raucous sobs made his shoulders pound up and down like pistons. Cardin steadied him with a hand on his back.

"Don't go falling apart on me, man. Aren't you my +1?" He chuckled at his own joke, but Jaune refused to stop. Sighing, Cardin grabbed him by his blonde mane and lifted his head up, up to face the moon. The light lit up tear tracks on Jaune's face, and his eyes widened. Hypnotized by the shine, his weeping slowed to a halt.

"Quit it. It's depressing to see you bawling your eyes out like this."

They stood there for a few seconds in silence, Jaune sniffling and hanging by Cardin's iron grip. It felt like it did when the larger boy had bullied him, an almost nostalgic feeling.

He gulped down his sorrow. The ex-bully waited patiently.

"I'm not sure... what I should do. I got everyone involved. I can't just turn around and laugh it off like you."

"Who's turning around, jerk?" Cardin released his grip, letting the team leader stare into the sky without his assistance. "You just have to keep moving forward."

"How do I fix it?"

"Hell if I know. I don't fix things, I break them."

"I need to do something. Get my friends back."

"They're still there. They're waiting for you to come back to them."

"Are you sure?"

"Not at all," he uttered confidently. "But I read that line yesterday and it sounded kinda cool..."

"You need to get that under control."

The other team leader gave him a wink.

"Don't worry, Jaune. I won't tell anyone you were crying. Your secret's safe with me."

"The last time you said that, it didn't turn out so well."

"I'm hurt. Now go back to your teammates." Cardin gave Jaune a gentle shove, ushering him towards the dancefloor. Hesitantly at first, Jaune finally gave in, wiped away his tears and smiled.

"I'll fix it this time, I promise."

* * *

**As usual, leave a review to tell me how I screwed up, how you want the story to go, how much you hate me, etc. I truly love reading reviews, so thanks in advance for taking the time to tell me just how you feel about my sleepy, self indulgent writing.**

**Following public demand, the title has been changed to remove the (Alternate).**


	8. Chapter 8

**Danger: Self indulgent writer ahead. Sorry for being so slow on this one, but I was agonizing over just how to end this. I hope the result is to your liking.  
**

* * *

As Jaune walked back into the ballroom, the tear tracks on his face masked by insufficient lighting and the rough touch of his suit sleeve, he realized he had no idea what to say. Suddenly, he found himself actively avoiding finding Pyrrha, trying to find her in places she would obviously not be such as behind the DJ booth, on the dancefloor, hanging from the ceiling, etc. He had set his mind on clearing the slate rather preemptively, but knowing that Cardin was behind him, most likely watching from the balcony, made him feel like he couldn't simply walk away from this task. It was do or die.

He spotted her by the vase of white roses Weiss had been standing by earlier. His knees almost gave out.

It wasn't like his partner was a frightening individual. It was just that the enormity of the situation had all crashed on his shoulders at once when he saw her listless expression. For him to be capable of bringing the upstanding Pyrrha Nikos to tears, to anger, and now to despair was so disgusting he couldn't bear to speak to her.

But he had to.

But he couldn't.

He mentally struggled one foot after the other towards the redhead. The long trek around the dancing individuals felt like a death row march. What should he say? What _could_ he say?

"Sorry for being a jerk."

"Sorry for being stupid."

"Sorry for being blind."

He uttered his shortcomings to himself as he walked, keeping his eyes on his shoes. No, she wouldn't accept something so half assed. Each sentence pierced him like a knife, but he kept on going.

"Sorry for being thoughtless."

"Sorry for being an idiot."

"Sorry for being childish."

He couldn't cry again. Just repeating these words to himself wouldn't do. He had to tell her. He had to get his regular, carefree life back.

"Sorry for not realizing... how you felt."

He could just go back, if he told her how he felt.

"Sorry."

He bumped into the sturdy, yet slender shoulder of a figure clad in alluring crimson.

"Apology accepted," she whispered into his ear.

Alarm bells rang in his head, and he shot to attention.

"OH! Pyrrha! Fancy seeing you here!" he bellowed, caught off guard. Jaune stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet and falling straight onto his ass.

_No, you idiot! Say it! You can't just run away!_

"Yeah... fancy seeing you here, Jaune." She smiled down at him, but it couldn't be called genuine in any way. The gladiator reached out her hand to him, offering to help him up. He accepted dumbfoundedly, opening and closing his mouth silently, at a loss for words. Wait, had she heard? How much?

It doesn't matter.

"Uuuuh, listen Pyrrha, I have to talk to you..."

"I know."

He cursed silently. Why did she have to keep saying such logical, solid things? He had nothing to work off of, no segue, nothing! Just say 'What about?' for once!

"Uuum... well, its about what happened last night..."

She crossed her arms in expectant silence. _Okay, now she isn't saying anything! Help me out here!_

"I... just... I mean... I'M SORRY!" He shouted this, loud enough to silence some of the surrounding revelers. 'This guy again?' they thought.

...

She wasn't going to make this easy, was she? No matter, he had the momentum now.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk. I'm sorry for being stupid. I'm sorry for being blind. I'm sorry for being thoughtless and an idiot and childish and stupid." Wait, hadn't he said that already?

Her eyebrows slowly rose with each declaration, but besides that he had no indication of what she was thinking. Abandoning his fruitless emotional evaluation, he closed his eyes and focused not on the Pyrrha standing in front of him, but the Pyrrha he remembered smiling just a week ago. The Pyrrha he wanted back.

"I'm sorry for not realizing how you felt. Please forgive me." He bowed his head apologetically.

Please come back.

"I know."

Oh dear Monty please stop that.

"Jaune... did you honestly think I was going to hold a grudge?" She cocked on eyebrow at him.

He gasped, opening his eyes and looking at his beaming teammate. Even in the dim light, he could see her smile lighting the world again.

"Honestly, I was afraid you weren't going to come back, Jaune."

"Eh? Me? But..."

"No buts mister, you've got to explain yourself to Ren and Nora now. They left early for the dorms it seems; even Nora was having trouble enjoying herself without you around." She grinned and grabbed him by the elbow and dragged him along, into the hallway and away from the cacophony of carefree students. Jayne gulped as he realized just how deeply he had impacted his team with his temper.

"Wait, but... but I thought you were angry," he stammered as he stumbled along behind her, almost tripping several times on trailing streamers.

"Don't be silly, Jaune. Even if that was a... _demeaning_ situation, I understand you had good intentions. As long as you learned your lesson, I'm happy. Now, lets find the others-"

"No," he said firmly, and grabbed her arm. "I... haven't given you an answer yet." Nothing would be left unsettled. Not this time.

She turned back to him and laughed sadly. "But I didn't even get to ask the question yet."

"I appreciate you, as a friend and partner. There is no one in the world more amazing than you, Pyrrha. But I just don't see you in that way."

She sighed. "I knew it would come to this."

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha. I don't..." He hesitated on the word. "...love you the way you love me."

"I know." And that time was definitive. She didn't mean to leave the conversation open, but to close it. The redhead couldn't take any more, she had tapped out of this fight. She took the rejection with grace, pride, poise.

There was no sappy sad music, like you hear in romantic comedies. All the two of them could do was stand there, in the silent hallway, hearing the muted music (holy crap was that Love Runs Out they were playing?) through the walls and the laments of one girl who seemed to be supporting her rather tipsy friend further down the corridor.

"But... you're amazing. And you should know that while I may not be smart enough to appreciate you as a girlfriend, there are many people who do want to have just the chance to get to know you. There is someone for you, it'll just take you a bit longer to find him."

"It's not like I'm in a hurry," she almost snorted, scoffing at the idea of being as desperate for love as the droves of women who pored over romantic novels and the like.

(On an unrelated note, still back at the punch table, Cardin sneezed. Was it the night air getting in through the open balcony? Maybe he should move away from the windows...)

"Best not to rush that kind of thing, right?"

They both laughed. Jaune's eyes offered a gentle 'I'm sorry,' and she returned with her classic gaze of understanding. Pyrrha wouldn't be shaken by something like this. The great thing about being as amazing as her was that there was always the comfort of someone relying on her to keep the gladiator going.

"Well, that's that. But you still have to apologize to Ren and Nora."

"Got it, coach!" He waved to her and scampered off to the dormitories to locate the rest of team JNPR's close knit family to be reunited once again. Pyrrha gestured back and watched Jaune practically skipping with joy, the weight finally lifted off his shoulders.

'The best thing to do would be to give up here,' she thought.

"If you love something, let it go."

Pyrrha whirled around to greet a tall, chestnut topped figure behind her. He smiled and continued regurgitating his favorite saying.

"If it comes back to you, keep it."

"What... does that mean?"

"Who knows? But I read that line yesterday and it sounded kinda cool." Cardin bumped his knuckles against his temple and stuck his tongue out.

"That's not what you're supposed to say," the redhead tittered. "You're supposed to explain the saying and cheer me up, giving me hope for the future and instilling me with a sense of vision."

"Eh? Vision? Really?" He waved his arms back and forth, flustered. "Wait, did I miss my chance to say something cool?"

Damn. He'd been looking for that moment for... well not forever, he'd only started recently.

"You missed by a long shot. You missed further than I can throw you."

Carding gulped. "That's pretty far... rather unbelievably far, in retrospect. Every day at this academy my trust in the basic laws of physics is fundamentally shaken."

"Physics? What's that?" she laughed.

"True," he replied jokingly. "Have our lives ever followed common sense?"

"We're hunters, Cardin. We've no need for logic and things like that."

* * *

"So, what made you change your mind?"

Weiss and Neptune were standing side by side, watching newly reconciled team JNPR perform an impromptu dance number together amidst the crowd of onlookers.

"Huh?"

"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?"

He chuckled and pointed vaguely towards a dancing blonde with a red plastic cup in hand. You know, the ones you see in movies, for frat parties. "You're looking at him. You got some good friends looking out for ya."

Weiss glanced at Jaune before averting her eyes from his twinkling grin. Was this feeling... guilt?

Did he know about her lie? Had he forgotten all about his confession? How much did he remember behind that carefree facade?

And why was she worrying about him now?

She tried to clear her head by taking a sip of punch and gazing at the dreamy Neptune, but something was missing. Where was that shimmer that she had seen on his skin earlier, that subtle glimmer over his features?

Her eyes kept slowly drifting to the clumsy partygoer trying to mimic Penny's robotic movements with little success. A tiny glint shone in his eye, and the hairs on her neck stood on end.

This was _soooooo_ not happening. Not with that awkward, trivial, mindless kid. Not on her life, not in a million years, not until the universe had imploded in on itself ten times over.

"Hey, you okay? Your face is a little red..."

"Its nothing! Its nothing."

* * *

Jaune had an impossibly wide grin on his face as hobbled off the dancefloor. He had spent the night popping and locking hard enough to work up a sweat (some students had even congratulated him on his unexpected talent) and the cool breeze washing in from the balcony was a blessing. He panted hard and tried to slow his breathing through his peals of laughter; seeing Ren forced into performing that elaborate choreography had brought tears to his eyes. Yang better have recorded that.

"Feeling all better?" called Cardin from the punch bowl, where he was still firmly stationed. The boy seemed to have set up shop, dragging over a folding chair and kicking his feet up on the table to read his _Sports Illustrated_.

"Yeah," Jaune wheezed, immediately regretting it as his throat caught fire. He teetered over to the table and grabbed a red plastic cup of his own.

"So... whatcha reading there?"

Cardin put one finger to his lips and shhhed playfully. "Don't tell Goodwitch I brought this here. She might kill me."

"I bet..." Jaune mumbled as he took a sip of fruit punch and glanced over surreptitiously. Behind the glossy cover was a small, thick paperback in ridiculously tiny font. Dust, what was that, font size 0.4?

"So did you fix it like you said you would?"

Jaune nodded exuberantly. "Everything's taken care of."

"You sure? Did you check your screw up list?"

Jaune laughed sheepishly, but Cardin knew the jab was all in good fun from his simple reaction.

"Well let's see... I made up with Pyrrha and the others, and I apologized to you. You know, for screwing up your confession."

"You don't really need to remind me, but okay."

"And I did talk to Neptune. Even if I wasn't very... composed at the time." Jaune turned to the tall windows, illuminating his face. "But it's all okay now."

Cardin chuckled behind his pages. The Jaune who had screamed and cried an hour prior wasn't taking his eyes off the moon.

"It's all back to normal..." he muttered, "right?"

"Back? To what? Me bullying other people? You being too chicken to say what you feel?"

"Not that... just... back to the peace."

"Sure, peace. Like Hunters need peace," Cardin snickered. He shot a glance at the silently swaying Pyrrha, the enthusiastic Nora leading Ren on a dancing spree, the awkwardly swinging Neptune who stumbled from side to side next to Weiss as she smothered her giggling. "Peaceful..."

He raised his eyebrows as Weiss gave the blonde a sidelong look.

"...or just getting interesting?"

"Huh?" Jaune called, not turning from the window.

"Nothing. Keep staring at the satellites." Dust, he was blind.

* * *

**I know I just reused the dialogue from canon for that second to last scene, but it has a different connotation because he actually, fully confessed to her beforehand. Just knowing that he feels that way is a game changer, and personally I am super goddamn happy with Jaune being able to get his feelings out and be serious just one time.**

**But what about you guys? Leave a review and tell me how I screwed up _this_ time, if you want to see more and what you want to see. All suggestions are welcome, thanks for all the support you've given me (especially on that last chapter) and goodbye for now.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh hey, look what's back. This is in part thanks to a friendly reviewer by the name of Thehappyvampire, who gave me the inspiration to get off my butt and finally pump out this sequel chapter. It ended up too long, so I had to split it into two parts, but the next half will be out in due time, no worries.  
**

* * *

"Uuuh... what is this about?"

Jaune had waltzed into the room confidently the next day after classes only to be greeted by the warm smell of... chocolate? A square of golden sunlight stretched over the room through the fluttering red curtains. Pyrrha peeked in over his shoulder and squeezed her way through between him and the doorframe.

"Oh dear," she fussed, hurrying over to her bedside table and producing a long, cylindrical package. "Dust, I wish we had a fridge in this room..."

"Is that..." he started, before shaking his head. Pyrrha was a professional athlete, she stuck to a strict diet and exercise regimen to keep her body in perfect condition. She wouldn't stash snacks in her bedroom like some spoiled ten year old.

Uncapping the casing, she emitted a long groan of utter exasperation. "Perfect. Just perfect. They're melting. I should've been prepared for this. The forecast did say it was going to be unusually hot. Maybe I could have enabled the air conditioning, but that would've been a bit selfish..." She turned to Jaune expectantly. "Wouldn't that be a bit much?"

Jaune's jaw dropped. In her hands was a shiny foil bag that smelled suspiciously like milk chocolate. The aroma leaked out and buried the room in a delicious haze.

"Wait, why do you have chocolate in your drawer? The dorm has a kitchen downstairs, with a fridge and stuff."

"Well, if I put a whole bag of sweets in the _public_ fridge, what do you think is going to happen?" she said, raising one crimson eyebrow. "I just ordered these in, so I didn't want anybody indulging in them too soon. It's supposed to be a _surprise_."

"You certainly surprised me," he chuckled awkwardly. "I didn't really peg you for a sweets fanatic."

"What? No, that's not the point." She poured the contents of the bag onto her bedside table carefully, so as not to deform the chocolate any more than she needed. Dozens of little foil-wrapped cones glimmered in the glare of sunlight from the window. "Ah, no! I can't put these here! They'll melt even more than they already have!" Pyrrha ran a hand through her sunset-red hair and began scooping Hershey's Kisses into the bag again.

"Where can I put these..." she wondered aloud.

"You were saying? About the point?"

"Oh, yes," she set the bag on a desk in the shadow and pointed straight at Jaune. "I ordered these online this morning for this express purpose. You are going to be handing these out to our friends today."

"Last I checked, we didn't go to a Halloween dance," Jaune said, snickering at his own joke. Pyrrha rolled her eyes.

"These," she said pointedly, raising a single Kiss for inspection. It squished between her fingers, startling her and forcing her to put it back down. "These are for all the people you caused problems for over the past few days. I want you to go visit each person you may have inconvenienced with your attitude and give them one Hershey's Kiss. Then you will sincerely apologize and wipe the slate clean."

"But I thought I already did this all yesterday," Jaune whined, slumping over in mock exhaustion. "I talked with Ren and Nora, Cardin and Neptune, everybody! It's all okay, right?"

"Not just yet," she stated, a smile spreading across her delicate features. "Don't you think you can go a little further? There's nothing wrong with a little more kindness."

The blonde scratched his head. Remembering those last couple of days was torturous. Looking over his actions, they didn't even feel like his own, as if he was just a puppet of his emotions flailing around blindly. He wanted to put that time behind him as soon as possible and forget all about it.

Then again, he had caused a lot of problems. Recalling the scared look in Nora's eyes, Ren's pained expression and Cardin's defeated sigh, he wanted to make it all better. Jaune Arc would do everything he could for other people, even if it was something little like delivering chocolates.

"I'll do it," he sighed. Pyrrha gave him an approving nod and handed him the foil bag.

"Remember to put them in the fridge for a little bit before handing them out. Nobody's going to eat runny chocolate."

"Got it," he called over his shoulder, making his way out the door. "Ah, before I go, why don't I start with you?"

She smiled and waved him away. "No... don't mind me. I've... already had my fill," she giggled sheepishly.

"Oh?" he laughed, smirking. "Even the great Pyrrha Nikos can't hold herself back from delicious milk chocolate?"

"Well, I don't normally order things like this, and I couldn't just leave it to sit in the room without trying one and still keep my sanity. Just please, take them away now."

"Will do, partner," he replied. "Still, sorry for spreading lies and ruining the dance for you. And snapping at you. And being a jerk overall. And, what else..?" He counted off on his fingers, his expression slowly becoming more and more worried.

Pyrrha placed her hands on her hips, proud of her partner. "I forgive you, Jaune."

* * *

Cardin raised one burnt orange eyebrow. He would have been rather suspicious a week ago if Jaune turned up at team CRDL's doorstep, possibly with some sort of revenge scheme. Now that he had opened the door to the clumsy blonde, he wasn't sure what to make of the situation.

"What's with the bag, Jaune?" he asked.

Jaune took a deep breath and drew out a singular Kiss. "Here."

"Is it... poisoned?"

"What? No! Where would you get that idea?" he protested.

"Well, carrying around an unmarked foil bag is kind of suspicious. Not to mention Kisses are the perfect medium for all sorts of assassination attempts. Think about it: they're covered in foil, so you can unwrap and wrap them at will to put something inside and no one will be the wiser." The larger boy made a little jazz hands motion unconsciously.

"Seriously? You're kidding... Wait a second, no, that's not what these are for!" He shook his head, vigorously denying Cardin's accusations. "You've been reading too many mystery novels. How can a person even be that paranoid?"

"I haven't been doing anything like that!" Cardin exclaimed with a hint of pink breaking into his chestnut color scheme. Or so the boy claimed, but Jaune could see a stack of books piled up on one of the beds, heavy enough to sink several inches into the mattress. Cardin moved his armored body between his visitor and the pile of novels and bristled like an enormous Grimm, so Jaune put up his hands to ward off the former bully and smiled knowingly. It was a strange expression; Jaune couldn't remember ever smiling _knowingly_ at one of his teammates. They usually cast knowing looks his way instead of vice versa.

"No, I think the bag doesn't have a label because Pyrrha ordered it online straight from the source. I guess they don't have to put the logo on it if it's not going to be on the shelves... Anyway," he continued, and presented the shiny sweet. "This is supposed to be... an apology."

"You already apologized, though," Cardin pointed out.

Jaune shrugged. "Pyrrha said I had to do another round. I guess this is my punishment?"

"Well, hope you make it through with your pride intact," he cackled, plucking the Kiss from his hands. "Thanks for the chocolate, sucker."

"You don't have to force yourself to sound mean, Cardin," Jaune advised, but the door was already swung shut. The blonde rubbed his head in confusion, but shrugged it off and turned to his next target.

Behind the wooden barrier, Cardin mused over the silver candy. Now that he thought about it, kisses were _also_ an interesting means of assassination. Then again, you'd probably need the antidote... He flipped open his notebook and jotted down a quick afterthought.

* * *

Jaune knocked on team RWBY's door.

"Coming!" came a familiar bubbly voice, and Ruby flung open the door to the all girls room dramatically.

"Welcome to the insurmountable team RWBY!" she cried, trembling with glee. Dust, she'd always wanted to do that!

"Hey Ruby," Jaune replied, smiling but unfazed. "Say, is Weiss around?"

Yang leaned around the door to shoot Jaune a sly look. "I didn't think you'd be so persistent, Romeo..."

The knight blushed. "It's not like that. I just need to give her... something."

"I see that something in your hands right now," she chuckled, staring at the shiny foil package. "A gift of some sort for our dear heiress?"

"Well, yeah..." he continued nervously, trying his very best to avoid this confrontation. Blake peered around the door frame, and suddenly the RBY of team RWBY were all simultaneously staring him down. He shrank back a bit and said, "So is she in there?"

"You're out of luck, Vomit Boy. She left a little bit ago to get some work done at the library. Though perhaps if you swing by around sunset and confess to her then..."

"Surely you have a chance," Blake interjected. This was just like chapter 23 of Ninjas of Love II : Heart of Shinobu. If she played her cards right, her ship might just set sail...

"Say, what's really in the bag?" asked Ruby, her impatience plain to see on her face. Oh dust, the smell of the chocolatey residue was already getting her excited.

"Huh? Ummm... well I guess I can let you guys have a few... there are a lot of them left..." He reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of glimmering Hershey's Kisses. Yang narrowed her eyes into a predatory leer, her smile growing wider by the second.

"So let me get this straight..." she said as Ruby snatched the candy from Jaune's fingertips. "You've been looking around for Weiss and came here to her room in order to give her... a Kiss?"

Jaune stammered silently, then gave up and muttered a quick "Wellgottagoseeyoutomorrowiguessbye". He turned on his right heel and made his escape.

Blake and Yang watched him run down the corridor, the blonde brawler chuckling fiendishly. Blake smiled inwardly.

"Gotta love that kid," Yang sneered, then noticed her sister's performance of the devouring arts. "Hey! I need at least one, you know!"

* * *

"Oh."

Neptune's mouth hung open slightly at the sight of the blonde. He was huffing and puffing, his hands on his knees in order to prop himself up. He looked up through his messy locks to greet the taller boy's gaze.

"Hey," he panted.

"Hey. What's with the heavy breathing?"

"Took me a while to figure out where you were staying," Jaune wheezed. "Turns out you were on the floor right above mine. What a-" He stumbled a little from lightheadedness. "What a surprise."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. But wasn't it kind of obvious? I mean, I did attend the dance and everything, and Beacon has a pretty generous policy for students from abroad," Neptune said pointedly.

"Oh, really?" squeaked the blonde. "I didn't think of that. Say, you mind if I sit down?"

Neptune stepped to the side to allow Jaune to pass through the threshold, but he simply collapsed against the wall in the corridor. Jaune traced the floor tile and tried to steady his breath. Opening the bag and peering inside, he grimaced; evening was looming, but the uncommon heat in addition to all that running had damaged a large portion of the chocolate. Some of the lower pieces were leaking out of their tinfoil.

He thrust his hand into the bag and felt around, finally settling on an acceptably shaped Kiss. Jaune plucked it from the chocolatey bath below and held it out to Neptune.

"Here," he offered, finally regaining his composure. "Take this."

Neptune stared at him blankly.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, but is this the whole reason you ran all the way over here? One chocolate?"

"Yeah," Jaune retorted. "I don't really understand it myself. It's supposed to be an apology of some sort."

"For what?" the blue haired boy inquired right before understanding dawned on his face. "Ooooooh... you don't really need to apologize for that, do you?"

"I'm not so sure about it either, but Pyrrha did say-"

"Wait, say no more. I understand what you're going through completely." Neptune cracked the brilliant smile that made him so popular. "Just give me the chocolate and we can call it a day."

"No, I mean, I really do want to apologize myself. I got you involved in my own selfish tantrum, and got angry at you for no reason. I even hurt you, and-"

"Hey," Neptune said, clapping a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Didn't I say not to worry about it? We're guys, we don't hold grudges over little incidents like that."

Jaune looked up at him and smiled awkwardly. "Stop sounding so cool. I'm getting jealous."

"Well, that's justified," chuckled Neptune, plucking a Hershey's Kiss from Jaune's palm. "Say, mind if I grab three more for my teammates?"

"Uuuh, sure. Not sure if there're enough passable pieces left in the bag though..." Jaune felt around in the mess of mushy chocolate and fished out three semi-solid silver Kisses. Neptune nodded in appreciation and placed them in his right hand, offering his left to help the blonde off the floor.

"Say, how many people are on your list?"

"Actually, I only need to talk to three other people: Nora, Ren and... well you know." Neptune smiled, and Jaune continued, "But where I find Ren, Nora won't be far behind, so I need to finish my list before she finds out I have chocolate and eats all of it. You wouldn't believe how much she loves sweets."

"Good luck with Weiss then," Neptune said casually, causing Jaune to run his hand through his hair nervously. "See ya."

"Yeah..." They waved goodbye and Neptune shut the door of the guest room.

Jaune kicked himself. His heart must still be racing from that wild goose chase earlier. He'd better calm down before facing her.

Where could she be?

* * *

**Oh dammit, I still haven't gotten to Weiss' standpoint. Well, leave a review or something telling me just how I ruined it this time. Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you had some fun with this series.**


	10. Chapter 10

Weiss pored over a book in her lap, resting her forehead on the desk in front of her. The library was usually a rather peaceful place to study when her teammates were causing too much of a racket for her to concentrate, a no doubt frequent occurence in team RWBY considering just how loud and obnoxious her partner could be. However, today for some reason she just couldn't focus on her lessons; Grimm Studies, History and Chemistry were slipping away from her mind as easily as they came as soon as she turned the page. Even though she could fully comprehend the subject matter, her memory just wasn't holding up well today.

She growled under her breath. It was so frustrating for her, who aspired to be number one in all her classes and prided herself in being one of the few students capable of acing Professor Oobleck's frequent pop quizzes (the majority of his tests came unexpectedly, oddly enough). How could she be failing at as simple a task as memorizing the dates of all major battles during the Faunus War?

_Would you mind..._

Weiss abruptly raised her head a centimeter and let it fall forwards, slamming into the hard wooden table and making a loud thudding noise. She had been doing this for a while now out of sheer frustration, and her forehead was probably an embarrassingly bright red. She didn't want to think about how many brain cells she might have killed.

But it didn't matter. She just didn't want to think about that moment. It was so stupid, so outrageously ridiculous for her to be hung up over, and yet...

_There's no act, but please..._

Thud. She banged her skull against the tabletop again. Stop thinking about that. Stop it.

_Since the moment I met you..._

Thud. No. No more. She didn't care. It was insignificant, a minor trifle that wasn't worth the slightest thought. When she got around to writing her extensive autobiography, this event wouldn't even make it into the footnotes.

_I think that's what did it..._

Thud. She didn't need to bother with it. What's in the past is in the past. Now back to the text at hand: 'The Battle of Fort Castle in the third year of the war is widely regarded as the turning point of the war because-'

_To get your attention..._

Thud. Even if she did care, even one iota, an epsilon of concern, it wouldn't change anything. Weiss was done with that whole dance fiasco as a whole; it was behind her, beneath her. She had too many things on her plate to worry about boys; that's what she had told Ruby and that's the story she would stick to. As an excellent student she had more important affairs to deal with. Like studying, for example. She intensified her gaze on the paper, but it blurred into squiggles of black on white, unreadable.

_I fell in..._

STOP. She surged up out of her seat, knocking the chair backwards and causing a clattering commotion. A few of the nearby students gave her dirty looks and some put fingers to their lips.

Weiss began to think that maybe the library wasn't such a great idea for a study spot, as the silence left her mind free to wander away from her textbook and towards other... trivial matters. She resolved to retire back to the dorms, where she could get angry at the antics of her teammates and not at herself. As Weiss sneaked past self consciously, one first year girl whispered to her friend in the loud way that less careful teens were prone to. "She must be crazy. She kept hitting her head on the table..."

Weiss blushed. She couldn't believe she made such a fool of herself. She checked out the book at the front desk in a frantic hurry and fled the far too silent library, dreading the equally silent walk to her room.

Her thoughts consumed her all the way back. It didn't get any better when she passed by the ballroom and saw that the clean up committee had left an unfortunate white rose lying dejectedly on the ground, wilting away on the cold tile.

It was almost sunset now. She averted her gaze from the gorgeous explosion of color behind Beacon tower and trudged along quickly, her heels clacking rhythmically against the floor.

* * *

Weiss arrived at the dorms just as little stars began to break through the inky night sky. Ruby was dangling from her bed (a far too precarious endeavor, considering that it was suspended from the ceiling by rope) and chatting with Yang, who was sitting on Weiss' bunk below her and brushing her sister's hair upside down. What were they, five? Blake had, as usual, already retired to her bed, curled up with the third installment of Ninjas of Love. The front read "Under Cover of Darkness".

"Weiss! Heyo!" Ruby called, waving animatedly and causing her mattress to sway.

"Woah, woah!" Yang warned, steadying the little girl's head by pressing hard on her ears, causing Ruby to squirm.

"Ow, ow, stop it~," she complained. Weiss sighed, half in relief and half in disdain.

Yes. This would do nicely. Her partner was being just as stupid as always. For once, she would be glad to be distracted from her thoughts.

"What's up? I thought you didn't want to be bothered during your precious study time," Yang greeted the heiress, still firmly locking Ruby's head in place.

"Oh nothing. It's just that I... didn't want to be late for curfew."

"Curfew?" Yang wondered, honestly perplexed. Weiss shook her head. Well, it helped that she didn't know the exact rules of the academy. Blake, however, gave her a suspicious look from her bunk. The heiress wasn't concerned: Blake wouldn't call her out on her lie. She was far too involved in her 'literature' to bother with it.

Weiss shrugged off the question and rifled through one of her suitcases. Oh, what she would give to have an actual dresser in the room, but school regulations made it rather tricky to move furniture onto Beacon grounds. All that paperwork for what was essentially a slightly larger box for her clothes. Ridiculous.

She retrieved her sleeping gown and began to slip out of her Beacon uniform. Unfastening the front buttons, she *fast forwarding* dragged her hair out of the nightie and tossed it elegantly.

Ruby began clapping, much to Weiss' annoyance. She wasn't trying to show off, for Monty's sake. Weiss collapsed into her chair. Maybe now she could finally get some studying done, no matter how slowly.

"Ah, hold on," Yang said, slapping her hand against her forehead. "We forgot!" She leaned into Ruby's upside down ear and whispered frantically, causing the younger girl to gesture in a similar manner.

"Huh? What? What's going on?" Weiss looked from Blake to Ruby to Yang, watching them as they assembled on the floor and made for the door.

"What's happening?" she called.

"Just stay put for now," replied Yang. "We'll be back soon enough. Focus on your readings or whatever, we won't bother you."

Weiss shivered. Yang had an evil grin on her lips.

"Wait, what are you going to do?" she asked again from her desk chair worriedly, but they shut the door quietly and crept away like mice.

"Don't leave me..." she whispered.

Damn it all. Just when she needed them to be buffoons, they acted considerate and left her alone. Alone to her own thoughts.

Damn it again. Damn it three times in quick succession. She turned solemnly back to her book and slowly turned to the page she had noted with a Schnee company bookmark she had picked up the last time she visited her father at work.

The words were still gibberish.

_Just hear me out..._

Thud.

No! She didn't need him plaguing her memories. Why couldn't she just forget about that night? Sure, she felt guilty! It hadn't seemed like a much better idea at the time, but she'd made the choice to lie to him because she didn't want to hurt his feelings! What was her crime? What was she guilty of?

You got some good friends looking out for ya.

Oh yeah.

He had found out.

She collapsed into her book. Her chest tightened as she remembered how he kept his head down, bowed to her as she left him there. He had still been holding onto that white rose when she ran away.

She never saw how he reacted to her rejection.

Who had been protecting the other's feelings that night?

She began to rationalize her guilt. Weiss had been planning on asking Neptune to the dance that night. He was one of the first guys to ever catch her eye, shining in a way she'd never seen before. He was just so intriguing that she wanted to uncover the secret to this strange attraction. A mysterious feeling, one that muddled her thoughts and skewed her vision, exaggerating his image with little bishie sparkles. What did she see in him? What did she want from him? Those were the only questions that had been running through her mind at the time when Jaune had confessed to her.

Jaune obviously felt something different for her. It wasn't just a fascination for him. He felt something deeper, she knew that, and it made her feel shallow in comparison. He knew what he felt and could put it into words, prompting her to curse her own ignorance. Why did an idiot like him understand this sensation better than her? It wasn't fair, to be left in the dark, unsure of her own emotions while he basked in the sunlight. She remembered the giggling first years from the library. How could she let him make a fool out of her like that?

He never left her alone, either. It was so frustrating, seeing him chase after her like some lost puppy. What was the point in him pursuing her when she continued to turn him down? Why did he have to care, and call her beautiful, and do stupid things for her? Just when she was getting used to things, he showed up with a guitar to stir up her life a little. When she was all alone, Jaune assembled their teams and brought the party to her. Yesterday, when she was feeling down...

...he sent Neptune to her side. Because that was all he thought he could do. Even when she had lied to turn him away, he did all he could for her. Everything for her.

Why?

_I fell in love with you._

Weiss lay face down on the pages, breathing in the scent of textbook paper. It was stale and dusty. Questions swirled through her head like a raging whirlpool, pounding away in her skull with a disorientatingly irregular tempo. Weiss still remembered those crushing words. She kept trying to forget them, but they were stuck fast at the forefront of her consciousness.

He loved her. She didn't love him. He kept on loving her.

So stupid.

She gave in and let her mind wander away from her exhausted form. A singular thought nagged away at her incessantly: Why couldn't it have been Jaune who came to comfort her that night?

* * *

Jaune took a few deep breaths. The bag he was clutching was still cool from its wait in the freezer. The moon shone through a window at the end of the corridor, bathing the long hallway in gentle blue light.

"It's just like last time..." he mused.

Turning around to look at the rest of team RWBY hiding behind the corner, they all gave him a thumbs up. They had found him searching for Weiss in the mess hall and notified him that she had returned to the dorm. He had followed excitedly at the time, but knowing Weiss was right behind the door in front of him made his heart beat just a little faster.

"Only an apology," he reassured himself. "This is only an apology. It's just a casual present from a friend to a friend. It's just something Pyrrha is forcing me to do."

_Wish it wasn't though._

He gathered his courage, raised a fist and knocked on the door.

* * *

A swift knock at the door jolted Weiss out of her stupor. She blinked several times and forced a wide smile off her face.

"Finally you guys are back," she said, doing her best to mask her relief with a haughty tone. Thank Monty, she had almost lost herself there. The knock came again.

"What, you can't open the door on your own?" She practically skipped in the direction of the sound and flung open the door.

Instead of the beaming faces of her teammates, she greeted the chest of a rather disheveled blonde knight. As she turned her head up, blood rose to her cheeks. They locked eyes, his deep azure to her snowy blue.

"Hi," he started, but the sight of her caused his jaw to drop.

She mouthed a silent "oh".

Jaune's eyes bulged.

Weiss looked down at her nightgown, fluttering around her thighs in a way one might just describe as dangerous. Snapping her attention back to the dumbfounded blonde, she drew back and marked his cheek with a red hand print. Jaune tumbled backwards, minimizing the brunt of the blow but falling flat on his butt in the corridor. The door slammed shut.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" she screamed through a crack in the doorway, hiding her body behind the door. "Its way too late for me to d-deal with this!"

Damn it. She stuttered. He didn't notice, right? Right?

Dust, what was she doing? This was her friend, Jaune Arc, the one she grudgingly put up with and ever so rarely recognized as a human being. Well, okay, she'd never really seen him as a friend, more like Pyrrha's annoying little brother or dog. A regrettable friend of a friend. She didn't have to hide from him. She didn't have to be embarrassed by a guy with so little presence. Besides, they'd all seen each others pajamas already on their first night at Beacon, when they had all slept in the ballroom. Weiss recalled his baby blue feetie pajamas. That's right, he was the one who should have been embarrassed. She didn't consider him a man at all.

Though he kept coming back to hang around her, they weren't close enough to be friends.

He struggled to his feet, rubbing the back of his thighs. That must've hurt. She clung to the door handle tentatively, prepared to cut off their conversation at a moment's notice should he begin pleading again. What did he want this time? A date? Some token of affection? What had he done to deserve anything from her?

Besides, well... no, never mind.

She shook her head free of those memories and distracted herself with the blonde before her eyes, though she definitely wasn't interested in what he had to say. Not one bit.

Jaune pulled a shiny tinfoil bag off the floor and checked its contents, his face falling into dismay. Weiss, from her vantage point behind the door, tried to peek into the bag, standing on tip toe to catch a glimpse of the brown soup within. That familiar, sweet richness that greeted her nostrils had to be chocolate, though the form left much to be desired. What was he planning?

"Don't worry," he called from a good three feet away from the entrance. "I'm not here to confess to you again."

("Again?" hissed Yang, but Blake placed a hand over her mouth and stifled her voice. Ruby observed with wide eyes, utterly perplexed.)

"I just need to give you something, then I'll be on my way."

"Yes, fine, what is it, just give it to me and go!" she stammered, tumbling through her words. Weiss facepalmed. Now she sounded desperate for a gift from Jaune of all people, the notion of which being absolutely idiotic. There was nothing she wanted from Jaune, except his silence. She'd said it many times before, and she'd say it again.

"Well, okay," he said, infuriating Weiss. Hurry up, damn you! How long does it take to give a person a stupid present? 'How much longer do I have to put up with you?' she screamed internally.

He lifted a droopy looking silver pyramid in his palm and offered it to the crack in the door.

"Here."

"What's this about?" she demanded incredulously.

"Well, its nothing really. Just a gift between friends. And an apology."

She cringed. Hearing the word 'friend' from him was painful. Most likely because she didn't consider him anywhere near a friend. Preposterous to even use the word.

Wait... apology?

"What... what are you apologizing for?"

"If I had to say... I guess I'd say I'm sorry for confessing to you."

Weiss drew a sharp breath.

"See, I know it must have annoyed you: a guy like me, asking out a girl like you without a clue of what he was doing. I must've seemed pretty stupid."

"No. Don't apologize for that," she breathed, but he evidently couldn't hear her as he rambled on.

"I guess you didn't want to hurt my feelings at the time, but I felt kinda bad about making you deal with that burden on my behalf. You had enough to worry about with the upcoming dance, so it probably didn't help that I came on to you so late in the game."

"You can't do this to me," she whispered. "I can't be the only one worrying about it."

"I just didn't want to keep that on my chest anymore. I'm sorry if my thoughtlessness made you upset in any way."

Was that all it meant to him? Getting something off his chest? Was that confession something he just needed to get out of the way and move on from?

Was that whole speech behind him? Beneath him? Would that stubborn, persistent fool really give up on the feelings he had conveyed to her?

"Besides, it was Pyrrha who told me to go around and do these apologies," he explained. "So you don't have to worry about any ulterior motives or anything..." Jaune waited for a response but, receiving none, he placed the sweet on the tile in front of her room and called out again. "I'll just leave this right here and... be on my way. I guess."

Weiss remained silent, fighting back her emotions. Could they really just be friends and forget that night before the dance? In fact, wasn't that what she had been trying to do all day? This was her chance to finally end all chances of romantic ties with this blonde goofball and keep him from ever pursuing her again. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She'd finally be able to spend her time focused on more important things like studying and training without being disturbed by someone as trivial as Jaune Arc. She'd finally be alone. She didn't need him around: she had her teammates, her best friends to provide her with all the comfort and kindness she needed. Anything more was just a nuisance. What he did wasn't so special.

But what he felt for her was.

Peering through the crack, a gasp caught in her throat as Jaune turned around solemnly.

"Good night," he spoke.

Weiss reached through the crack in the doorway and gripped his hand. She felt a shiver go up Jaune's arm as he froze in place.

"It didn't really... bother me," she said, her fingers trembling. His palm was sweaty and warm, kind of gross really. Under normal circumstances, she might have felt disgusted touching his filthy hand, which had probably been Monty-knows-where doing all kinds of unclean things. But she held on tight. She wouldn't shoo him away this time. She didn't want to forget his words. She didn't want him to give up.

"It was really sweet of you to say those things to me. You shouldn't apologize for it. If anything, I should b-be the one apologizing to you." She opened the door a little wider and drew him a little closer.

"I'm sorry for lying to you Jaune. I wasn't really going with anyone else, I just..." She searched for a better way to put it. Finding none, she said ashamedly, "I just didn't want to go with you."

His hand tightened around hers, almost to the point of being painful. He wouldn't make eye contact with her, and she hated that. Weiss wanted to see his face, know what he was thinking, know that she wasn't all alone in this feeling.

"You were always so earnest, it made me feel like an absolute idiot. I knew that I couldn't feel the way you felt, so I held on to my self esteem and turned you down. But all this time despite that, you kept on doing silly things for me and trying to make me smile, all the while hurting your own pride and thinking nothing of it. Even on the night of the dance, Neptune told me you made him change his mind for me. Even when I lied to you, you kept on being so nice. I didn't understand it. I thought you were making fun of me. But now... I think I get how it feels."

Slowly, but surely, Jaune turned to face her. They stared at each other through the crack in the doorframe, mesmerized by the look of understanding on one another's faces.

"Just please... don't stop loving me."

Jaune turned bright red. "I won't," he muttered, almost in a daze.

Their gazes locked together for only a moment, but to them it seemed to last for hours.

For the first time ever, Weiss picked up on what Jaune was thinking.

For the first time ever, Jaune picked up on what Weiss was thinking.

Their grips relaxed, and when their hands drifted apart they finally shook themselves out of their respective trances. The duo were both glowing pink in the moonlit corridor. Weiss kneeled down and snatched the candy from the tile floor as Jaune stuck his hands in his pockets and faced in the other direction, not wanting to make Weiss feel embarrassed about her pajamas.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow I guess!" he declared awkwardly, perhaps a little too loud.

"Yeah, tomorrow, sure!" she hollered, equally uneasy. Jaune crossed over to the other side of the corridor and opened the door to team JNPR's room.

"Goodnight!"

"Goodnight!"

The doors swung shut.

Weiss collapsed into her chair and flipped open her book, only to groan sadly. She wouldn't be getting anywhere with this chapter tonight. There was even more on her mind now than before.

* * *

Jaune dropped the bag of chocolate on the floor and flopped onto his bed belly up. Pyrrha masked her laughter with her hand.

"So it went well?"

"Ooooh~ yes..." he cackled, a huge grin breaking out on his face. Noticing his other teammates watching with puzzled expressions, he jumped up and grabbed the tinfoil bag from the ground to dig inside once again.

"Oh yeah, I still need to give you guys chocolates too."

Ren accepted one, only to promptly give it to Nora. He knew she appreciated them more than him, and he wasn't much of a sweets kind of guy anyway. Nora gladly took the sweet off of his hands, then broke into an enormous smile as Jaune passed her the whole bag of soupy chocolate. There weren't many pieces left intact after that fall. Thank goodness Nora wasn't picky, or he would have a hell of a time relieving her disappointment.

"Faf shee ocashun?" she mumbled through a mouthful of delicious goo.

"What's the occasion?" Ren translated.

"Oh, nothing too special. I just wanted to make amends for how I was acting a few nights ago. Hope you can forgive me," he chuckled apologetically. "Sorry."

Nora gave him a big brown smile, and Ren summed up their feelings. "Don't worry about it. We know you had your reasons. You always do."

"Next time however," interjected Pyrrha, quick to teach her partner a valuable lesson. "Try talking to us instead of getting upset. I thought we said we were going to communicate with each other after the Forever Fall incident."

"Yeah, sorry..." Jaune said. He always felt so ashamed when Pyrrha had to correct him (even though she was partially to blame this time). It was just his Arc pride acting up. Deep down he really did appreciate just how much she helped him out.

"Thank Monty my teammates are so awesome."

They broke their team huddle as Nora began to vibrate unnaturally. It was going to be a long night for team JNPR, and the next morning was guaranteed to be another slow start for everyone but the hyperactive hammer girl.

* * *

Yang bust through the door with all the subtly of a bulldozer. Backing up. Through a minefield.

"WOOOOOOOOO Is it hot in here! I wonder what it could be? Perhaps young love is in the air?"

Weiss whipped around and pointed at her accusingly, cheeks aflame.

"YOU!" she shouted, trembling with fury. "This WAS your doing, wasn't it? Was that your plan, to embarrass me in front of another student?"

"Not just _any_ other student," the blonde cooed, sidling up next to the blushing heiress. "Jau~ne. Your _favorite_ student."

"Oh, get off," she snapped, trying to shove the busty girl off of her desk chair. Dust, why was she so strong?

"OH, how adorable you were, Snow A~ngel," Yang teased, using Jaune's favorite nickname for her to get under her skin. Weiss squirmed, breaking away from the close contact and putting some distance between them.

"WHATEVER! Let's just go to bed. I'm far too tired to put up with your foolishness."

"Ah, she's evading me. Blake, what should I do~?"

"I say we delete that recording we made of her," the Faunus girl deadpanned. "But that's just my opinion."

"WHAT?" Weiss cried, lunging for Yang's Scroll as she drew it casually from her pajama pants, waving it back and forth playfully. "Give me that!" Ruby broke in between their duel and got right up in Weiss' face.

"What just happened back there?" she probed, genuinely confused. "Is there something going on between you and Jaune?"

"And what did he mean by 'again'?" snickered Yang. "Did you guys have a moment that you kept secret from us?"

"Well..." Weiss ran a hand through her hair anxiously, a bad habit she had picked up recently. Dust, why were they so incessant in their questioning? And they were _watching_? The thought made her feel faint from embarrassment.

"That looks to me like a definite yes," the blonde remarked.

"Yeah. Pretty obvious, actually," Blake agreed.

"Can someone please explain what's going on to me?"

"I dunno, maybe in a few years. Or Weiss can tell you herself. We~iss?" Yang called, but the girl in question was face down on her bunk.

"Just leave me alone," she groaned, the malicious intent in her voice muffled by the mattress.

Neither Weiss nor Yang would relent, and their battle of wills lasted well into the night.

* * *

**Oh god it's so long. This turned out way longer than expected, a whole 2.5 times longer than my usual chapter, so sorry about that. I guess I just got carried away, but somehow I'm happy about how it turned out. This is in no way meant to be the final verdict on their relationship, so if I find more inspiration the story will probably continue.**

**Do I need to explain myself on this one? I think I do... so in my eyes Weiss isn't necessarily head over heels for Jaune, but she knows just how serious he is about her and grows to appreciate that, no matter how much she denies it. It may eventually lead to something like love, but for now she just wants him to keep caring about her because, well, it feels nice. Maybe she'll be a little more open to further romantic endeavors, who knows? This is all my interpretation of how it could've worked out, completely baseless in every way.**

**Anyway, what do you guys think? Do you want to see more? Where do you see this story going? I'm really interested in what you found enjoyable, boring, stupid, good, bad, ugly, etc. Thanks for all the support you guys gave me (especially those select few who opted to leave a review; those really make my day :D) and goodbye for now.**

**Now to move on to that Beelzebub fic... Anybody else think this site needs some more of heterosexual Furuichi?  
**


	11. The End

**THIS TEXT IS ALL BOLD BECAUSE ITS ALL ONE HUGE A/N**

**I bet you opened this thinking The Dance had a new chapter, right?**

**Well, too bad, I tricked you! I bet you feel stupid now, don't you? Might as well just leave now, there's no more chapters for you! HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAH**

_**Okay, come back, I didn't mean it.**_

**The truth is, I'm ending The Dance. It was the obvious choice. The story just came to such a satisfying end, for me and apparently for many of the reviewers.  
**

**But that doesn't mean the story's over. In fact, I'm publishing the first chapter of the sequel TOMORROW MORNING and working on the second chapter RIGHT NOW. It'll be slow updates, probably slower than The Dance was, because of school and stuff and extracurriculars, but I'll truck right on through it!**

**I know, the word SEQUEL is kind of scary. But, like with The Dance, I'm counting on everyone to tell me juuuuuust how to write, rewrite and maintain your interest with the new story! So without further ado, check my profile page and jump on the sequel to The Dance, which I will be titling After The Dance.**

**Yep, it's cheesy as fuck.**

**(Expect some swear words in the future. It's an inevitability.)**

**Goddammit, I'm gonna do it.**

**For all of those reviewers out there, thinking their words don't mean a thang.**

**Don't you worry, pretty ladies.**

**I will deliver this sequel.**

**Like... Like a midwife delivers babies.**

**This sequel, born from you guys, delivered by me, then returned back to you.**

**Baboom.**

**Drop mic.**

**(Oh, and did you like the new cover page? It took me like an hour to draw and another hour to lose my shit over the poor resolution T-T )**


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